VOL 01 | ISSUE 32 | MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014

`1024 Pages

Hayden PanettiereCatching Up, Pg 24

Ward Watch@

Ward No 14PGNo 11

PG 02

CITY HoSPITaLS NoTdISaSTEr rESISTaNT

Many city hospitals are not fully disaster resistant and have many factors, which need to be worked upon. In a recent study, ASDMA managed to point

out certain faults which need to be worked on.

In ConversationA DUTCH GURUPG 14

MuLTI ENTrY-ExITS IN GHY rLY STaTIoN PoSES daNGEr PG 07

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 20142

Lead Story

Every year, seismic observato-ries record about two hundred earthquakes of varying intensi-

ties with epicentres in or around the northeastern region, which falls in the most vulnerable seismic Zone V. Whenever any natural disaster hap-pens, the most affected buildings are mostly the schools and the hospitals. The Assam State Disaster Manage-ment Authority (ASDMA) with the help of Assam Engineering College (AEC) conducted a survey in the city hospitals to find out if the hospitals are vulnerable to earthquake, wind, flood and fire. G Plus exclusively ex-plores their vulnerability status.

The surveyThere are more than 80 govern-

ment and private hospitals in Guwa-hati, out of which 14 are government hospitals or dispensaries and there are 68 hospitals/day care centres in private sector. AEC started the sur-vey initially with route mapping and location survey of the hospitals. The GPS locations were collected and verified with the locations made available by the health department. The location survey was followed by a detailed survey and assessment of the status through questionnaires.

This survey was conducted in 43 hospitals and dispensaries. There are 13 day-care centres and 4 hospitals outside the city limits. Six private hospitals were either could not be located in the in the given location or they had closed down. All the government hospitals were issued questionnaires through the director of health services, Assam and the pri-vate hospitals were issued question-naires directly.

observationsBased on the initial feedback and

filed survey, it was derived that the majority of the private hospitals suf-fer from lack of open space and more than 50% of the hospitals have less than 20% open space.

Overall the biggest concern which was raised after the survey is that the oxygen cylinders in all the hospitals are not secured. The oxygen cylinders are placed vulnerably and will topple in the event of shaking due to earthquake, causing disruption of critical lifesaving facility. Almost all the hospitals have not secured the medicine and the glass bottles in the almirah and instead they are kept on open shelves, which needs attention for uninterrupted supply of medicine during post-disaster situations.

The survey questions in the ques-tionnaire were designed to find out various levels of information. Some of the questions and there average findings are as follows

Is there any disaster management plan in the hospitals?

Is there any space designated for the hospital emergency operation centre?

are the staffs trained on disaster management?

Hospital structural drawing availability

Hospital layout drawing available

Number of beds versus % of hospitals

occupancy in normal situation versus % of hospitals

Number of doctors versus % of hospitals

These were some of the findings of the survey conducted. The find-ings are interesting no doubt but at the same time a matter of major con-cerning - the number of doctors are not adequate; occupancy in normal situation is less, the ratio of the total number of beds in the hospital is not that impressive. The major concern in the finding is that very few hospitals have a disaster management plan in place. It is not only the hospitals, but even for apartments, schools or any other building, once made, the disas-ter management plan is pretty vital as you never know when nature lets her fury out. But the city hospitals do not seem to pay much attention to these warnings.

Some major concerns of the hospitals

1. Corridors obstructed with equipment

2. Monitors in ICU not secured against falling during earthquake shaking

3. Fire extinguishers not secured

4. Oxygen cylinders not secured in most of the hospitals

5. OT roof mounted lights requires anchorage audit

6. Glass bottles/medicines kept on Almirahs which is not secured

7. Generator, fuel and electrical panels close to each other which is a high fire hazard risk

8. Very less open space

9. Portable oxygen cylinders are not locked and can topple

10. Wards are very congested

Many city hospitals are not fully disaster resistant and have many factors, which need to be worked upon. In a recent study, ASDMA managed to point out certain faults which need to be worked on.

The Good health hospital elec-trical equipments require anchorage audit as the survey says that the elec-trical equipment in the hospital is not fitted and maintained and is a high-risk threat for fire. Hospitals like GMCH, Dispur Polyclinic and Nurs-ing Home, Good Health Hospital and International Hospital have inflexible oxygen lines and if there are natu-ral calamities like earthquake, then these lines can crack and leak.   

aSdMa viewsThe Deputy Secretary and State

Project Officer, Disaster Risk Reduc-tion, ASDMA, Nandita Hazarika in-formed G Plus that after the survey, the AEC also provided some retrofit-ting solutions for the vulnerability findings. She said, “Basically there are two types of vulnerability - structural and non-structural. To tackle with structural vulnerability there are some technical requirements and even non-structural vulnerability require technical solutions, but if building occupants are aware and responsible, they can always keep a check on it and stay safe.”

Citing an example, Hazarika mentioned about the AEC survey on the schools of the city discovered that there are around 200 schools vulner-able to earthquake. ASDMA asked the schools to work on the solutions for non-structural vulnerability, but the schools refused citing lack of funds. ASDMA then, with their own funds allotted in the budget, decided to at least tackle with some of the issues.

ASDMA took the help of the Geo Hazard Society and planned to repair at least the laboratories and the prin-cipal’s room of these schools. The So-ciety’s people repaired 10 schools and

CITY HoSPITaLS NoT dISaSTEr rESISTaNT

in the process, the ASDMA people too received the training and skills for the repair work. After that, the ASDMA workers repaired 10 more schools, where the Society’s people helped the ASDMA workers. Nandita Hazarika also informed that around a nominal amount of `10,000 to 12,000 were spent for each school.

Similarly, the survey conducted in the hospitals also proved that the city hospitals are vulnerable to earth-quakes and notices have already been sent to the respective hospitals, which require solutions. The ASDMA will, after few days check if the hospitals have done the repairing required for non-structural vulnerability.

Adding to the issue, Hazarika narrated how people are not proac-tive towards solving the problems. ASDMA conducted an awareness pro-gramme in some apartments, but the irony is that in spite of informing the residents before going there, people hardly took interest. In most of the apartments the fire extinguishers are not working and there was no plan of changing or refilling it.

The non-structural requirements cover issues like placing the fan, almi-rah and other household goods in places where there is minimal risk. But then people do not show any ini-tiative. The only thing people can do is after an incident happens, they raise question and point fingers at the gov-ernment and departments like AS-DMA. It is true that the authorities are responsible for everything but as citizens, aren’t we responsible for our safety? The oxygen lines in almost all the hospitals are not secured but how can the patients feel confident in a hospital where there is a disaster risk?

Yes 50%

No 50%

Yes 56%

No 44%

Yes 54%

No 46%

Yes 60%

No 40%

Yes 78%

No 22%

25 beds 43%

25 to 50 beds 35%

50 to 100 beds 17%

100 beds 5%

50% occupancy 51%

50 to 75% occupancy 25%

75% occupancy 24%

25 doctors – 71%

25 to 50 doctors 19%

50 to 100 doctors 7%

100 doctors 3%

Rahul Chanda

The major concern in the finding is that very few hospitals have a disaster management plan in place. It is not only the hospitals, but even for apartments, schools or any other building, once made, the disaster management plan is pretty vital as you never know when nature lets her fury out.

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 3

“

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

G-View

Along with the fate of the country, the fates of the 18 candidates in the fray for the

Gauhati Lok Sabha seat will be dis-covered and disclosed on the 16th of May. Guwahati (M) has four Legisla-tive Assembly Constituencies – Ja-lukbari, Dispur, East Guwahati and West Guwahati. The voter turnout percentage of these four constituen-cies were 81.38%, 73.72%, 69.05% and 75.48% respectively, in the last phase of state elections which took place on the 24th of April.

Unlike in the past, the strong rooms (room or locations where the ballot boxes containing the votes is kept to be counted on the counting day) used to be in the schools and colleges, this time the strong room is in the Sarusajai Indoor Stadium and all possible effort is being made by the authorities to conduct a fair count-ing. G Plus reviews the arrangements and the security measures in place to keep the strong room secure.

The countdownThe authorities are working

overtime to ensure trouble free poll counting without any chaos or prob-lem. According to the district ad-ministration, the poll counting will start from 8 o’ clock in the morning and will continue until the results are declared and the counting of the four Legislative Assembly Constitu-encies of Guwahati will take place at the Sarusajai Stadium. There are eight counting halls arranged for the counting purpose and two halls will be used for counting the votes of one constituency. The counting process will be simultaneous and continuous.

The Security scenario

According to city SSP Anand Prakash Tewari, multi layered se-curity cover is in place to guard the strong room and the security cover is tremendously tight. To give an idea about the watertight security ar-rangement, the SSP proclaimed that, “parinda bhi par nahi maar sakta” (even birds won’t be able to flap their wings). The SSP informed that there are three layers of security cover in place to guard the strong room. The outer layer consists of the main gate, barricades, traffic and access control which is being taken care of by the Guwahati city police. The middle lay-er deals with the checking and fenc-ing, which is again been taken care of by the Assam Police. The main strong

room security cover layer is taken care of by the CRPF. One company of CRPF had been deployed to safe-guard the strong room. The troop has 90 jawans, some JCOs, one Deputy Commandant and an Assistant Com-mandant. The police are pretty confi-dent about the security of the strong room.

The 16th day of MayThe 16th of May is the day that

the entire country is waiting for and again the security arrangements around the strong room for that day too is being planned to perfection and the police is strictly following the

Election Commission’s guidelines. On the counting day, there will be three covers of security at Sarusajai Stadium. The first cover will be taken care of by the CRPF with assistance from the Assam Police. The second cover of security will be taken care of by the police and both the police and the CRPF will deal with the third cover, which is dedicated to tackling of the law and order situation. In the counting hall, there will be represen-tatives of the political parties, polling officials and cops in civil dress.

There is a contingency manage-ment plan in order for the day. There will be two check gates between the inside and the outside of the strong

As the country waits for the 16th of May to arrive, the EVMs and the destinies of the candidates and the political parties are locked away in the strong rooms, which for Guwahati is the Sarusajai Stadium. There

are tight securities in place to ensure that access is watertight.

HoW STroNG arE THE STroNG rooMS?

Rahul Chanda

room. SP ranked officers, DSP ranked officers, SIs and inspector ranked offi-cers will be deployed. A huge amount of armed and unarmed forces will be there on the day to take care of the situation. All these security measures have been put in place to ensure a trouble free counting day.

The EVMIn the year 2010, a daily reported

that scientists at the University of Michigan said that they have devel-oped a technique to hack into Indian EVMs. After connecting a homemade device to a machine, the researchers were able to change results by send-

ing text messages from a mobile. In-dian election officials were on record saying it would be very difficult even to get hold of a machine to tamper with their machines — as many as 1.4 million of which are used in each general election. 

In the same year, a unique case happened in Mumbai too, af-ter an EVM went missing from the Mumbai  Collector’s office, where the machines are stored. The Police claimed that it was Hari Prasad; a technical coordinator with VeTA (Verifiability, Transparency and Ac-countability) who had then recently co-authored a paper questioning claims that Indian electronic voting machines (EVMs) were fully secure. VeTA is a citizen’s forum that deals with election-related issues. In As-sam, until date there was no case of EVMs being stolen, but there are oth-er instances which put the efficiency of the polling machines in question.

During the ongoing 2014 Lok Sabha elections, there were com-plaints of EVMs being faulty across the state and because of these faulty machines, re-polling happened in many polling centres. According to a voter in Badarpur, under the Karim-ganj district, as soon as he pressed the button to vote for BJP, he noticed that the light that went on was for the Congress symbol. He complained to the polling officer and the polling was stopped in that centre. Similarly, such incidents happened across the state in districts like Jorhat as well.

There may be tight security ar-rangements and a planned security schedule instituted by the authorities until May 16th, but then how efficient and tamper-proof are the EVMs in re-ality. Can the EVMs be hacked? Can they be tampered with? After all, it is a man-made electronic machine. So is there a way to re-programme it too or even further, pre-programme it? The Election Commission is confident of fair polling and counting every elec-tion, but there are always cases of rig-ging, proxy voting and so on which pop up.

The 2014 elections have been a must-watch in the history of Indian democracy and India has never wit-nessed such a national obsession with elections ever before. What does 16th May have in store for the country and its citizens? Who will win and who will lose? We have no answer yet, but one thing is for sure, the EVMs will never fade out of the spotlight!

To give an idea about the

watertight security

arrangement, the SSP proclaimed

that, “parinda bhi par nahi maar

sakta” (even birds won’t be able to

flap their wings).”

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 20144

de-siltation could not stop flash floods

Violence in the Bodoland Terri-torial Areas District is nothing new. Time and again, the peo-

ple of the area have been witnessing violent incidents, which have affected both the common Bodo and non-Bo-do people.  Political parties will play the blame games while other organisa-tions also try to take advantage from such incidents. The reality though is that the condition of a common vil-lager remains the same over the years and if at all, it deteriorates.

The carnage, which broke out on the 1st of May when armed miscreants gunned down three people at Naras-ingbari village area near Anandabazar, under the Gobardhan police station in Baksa. The district has so far witnessed the death of 40 innocent people.

If police suspected it to be a handiwork of the militants loyal to the Songbijit faction of the National Dem-ocratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the militant outfit’s denial has made it even more intriguing.

However, the state cabinet min-isters who have visited the places have directed their suspicions on the Bodoland People’s Party (BPF). Some have demanded the arrest of BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary and its senior leader Pramila Rani Brahma and thus, the blame game continues but the lives of the people at the villages remain the same. Their lives are surrounded by fear and uncertainty.

“We are not in a mental state to say anything,” Samsul Ali told G Plus at the Narayanguri camp when asked if he was ready to go back to his vil-lage. Ali who hails from Khagrabari village has lost his 18-year-old son Ra-meej Ali and he is almost inconsolable now. “We don’t know what to do. If we have to lose somebody like him again, we don’t want to face that situation. We have been living peacefully but suddenly everything has been ruined,” Ali said, holding back his grief.

 

SecurityThe state government has dis-

cussed about raising a special security force for deployment in the affected areas such as the BTAD and the two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao. It has also decided to deploy a special force for the seizure and recovery of illegal weapons in the BTAD and other areas. Besides, to augment security deployment in the BTAD, the State has sought 50 additional companies of paramilitary forces from the Centre.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that details of the proposed special security force for the conflict-hit areas would be worked out soon. He said that people affected by recent violence in BTAD had urged the government to provide them firearms for self-pro-tection.

 Illegal armsMany say that it is the availabil-

ity of illegal arms, is one of the main reasons of these killings. Even the As-sam governor JB Patnaik has asked the state government to seize the il-legal arms in the BTAD region. The governor said house-to-house search should be conducted to bring an end to this problem.

A senior police official said more than 100 illegal arms have been seized in the BTAD during the time of elec-tions. He added that since January this year, 42 militants of the NDFB(S) have laid down their arms, while 18 others have been killed in encounters with police and the Army. According to sources, there are around 200 ac-tive members of the NDFB(S) in the BTAD at present.

“The arms which are available in BTAD have led to these killings. This is a very unfortunate incident and we condemn it. We have been appealing to the state government for the seizure of all the illegal arms at the earliest, but there has been no action from the authorities concerned,” said Aditya Khaklari, general secretary of the All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS).

Media reports say that there are

1,309 licensed and 5,000 illegal arms in the BTAD that are often used in the massacre of common people which has been continuing since early 90s.

 InvestigationThe Assam Human Rights Com-

mission (AHRC) has also issued a notice to the state government to start an enquiry into the allegations against the six forest department personnel who are suspected to be involved in the BTAD carnage. AHRC has direct-ed the state government to submit its report within 45 days of receipt of the

adITYa GOGOI

aFTEr THESTorM The violence in the BTAD has been brought under

some semblance of control, but for how long? With the government sitting on a potential powder keg of

perpetual disturbance, the measures always seem to last only till the next volatile incident. The problem

needs a definitive solution and needs it now.

notice.“The commission has registered

a suo motu case as there were allega-tions against the forest personnel, including a forest ranger, for being directly involved in the killing of in-nocent people using the department’s weapons. They have joined hands with some militant groups in the BTAD re-gion,” an AHRC statement said.

Assam police on Sunday had ar-rested six forest volunteers, including a forest ranger Amiya Brahma of the Manas National Park, following the FIRs lodged by the villagers.

The locals stated that when the

villagers rushed to the forest beat of-fice in Baksa district’s Khagrabari for safety on Friday, the forest personnel fired at them and set some of their houses on fire.

A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) has already arrived in the BTAD after the state government decided to hand over the investigation to the NIA to finalise the modalities of taking over the investigation of cases.

As of now, a new aspect has come into play where some are mulling that the entire situation of violence might be a ploy to destabilise the Assam gov-ernment. Although nothing has been proved on papers, the fact remains that the embers in the BTAD had al-ways been burning and all it needs is a small spark to turn it into an engulfing inferno each time. The reason has al-ways seen violence from time to time and each time, the measure have only helped to control it and not eradicate it completely.

Whether these embers have been deliberately kept burning for unscru-pulous means is still only speculation, but right now, concrete and decisive steps are the need of the hour and un-less the situation is dealt with an iron hand, the region will always remain volatile and potentially violent inci-dents will keep occurring.

We don’t know what to do. If we have to lose somebody like

him again, we don’t want to face that situation. We have been

living peacefully but suddenly everything has been ruined”

In The News

Relief camps in Baksa distrct

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 5

City

Apparently, it was all about preparedness and Guwahati was supposed to be ready

for floods. But one heavy downpour and the flash flood scenario of the city seems to have been the same until now. Just an-hour long dura-tion of rain on Thursday noon has awfully exposed the empty picture of the activities carried out by the local authorities to prevent the city roads from being submerged.

Interestingly, the local authori-ties were seen to be showing a keen interest in dealing with the artificial flood situation of the city. Accord-ingly, the officials of GMC (Guwa-hati Municipal Corporation) have started the de-siltation of the drains of the city, the first phase of which was started from January and the work was expected to be complete by the month of March this year.

The de-siltation of drains locat-ed on the GS road (from Ganeshguri to Bhangagarh), from Chanmari to Ulubari overbridge, Udalbakra (from Lalganesh to Powerhouse), from B. Barooah inner drain to Nandan hotel, Athgaon kabarsthan drain, Pakitola inner drain, from AT road to Sorusola beel, Juripara inner

de-siltation could not stop flash floods

drain was being done under the su-pervision of GMC workers.

The GMC workers have done their part of the job and the sludge was seen on the roadsides for some days. Some of the deposits were taken away and the remaining was washed away by the rain ended up in the drains again.

The heavy rain in the last few days inundated most of the busy areas of the city including Chris-tanbasti, Paltan Bazar, Ambari, Pub Sarania, Ulubari, Lachit nagar, Zoo road, and Gandhibasti. The parking

area situated in front of the Guwa-hati railway station, the busiest rail-way station in the entire North east region was also submerged for more than one hour.

The office of the deputy com-missioner too has imposed a ban on cutting of hills in Guwahati. All the concerned circle officers and OC’s of police stations were directed to do a strict vigilance in this regard and take immediate and necessary steps to prevent it. Violation of the order may lead to legal action as per DM Act 2005. It has also directed the GMC, PWD, Railway and ASEB to submit a contingency plan for the coming monsoon season for the year 2014.

Though, no reports of illegal cutting of hill in and around the city was being reported, yet frequent rain in the last few days have left the lives of the people living near the hillside miserable. Landslide in areas like Kalapahar and Lokhra have made it impossible for the commuters to travel.

Whatever the authority is doing or planning to solve the longstand-ing problem of water logging in the city, the people are still far away from getting any solutions out of it.

MRInMOYEE haZaRIKa

mrinmoyee.hazarika@g-plus.in

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 20146

In The News

Amid speculation of a possible threat to the Chandmari fly-over, one of the busiest fly-

overs in Guwahati, officials of PWD departments have assured that no such risk exists at the foundation and structure of the same.

The officials have mentioned that there is an expansion gap, which is around five-inch in length along-side the divider, placed in the middle of the bridge. Due to general wear and tear and rise in temperature, the gap has widened a little. The gap was always there and it keeps contract-ing and expanding because of the rise of the temperature and breakage at the edge. This though will cause no harm to the commuters and the structure of the bridge.

“According to the rule, no pedes-trians should cross the flyover over the dividers, but if someone chooses to break the rule, then he or she, es-pecially kids might get trapped in that expansion gap of the divider. It is not true, as reported in some me-dia, that crack has appeared in the flyover, which poses serious threat to it. All other flyovers and over-bridg-es located in the city are fully safe and no risk is there to the structure and foundation of the same,” official

source at PWD (road) told G Plus.The source also stated that inter-

nationally renowned bridge expert V K Raina visited the flyover along with a group of PWD officials as part of a practical session of a training programme. He has been in the city for a three-month long training pro-gramme where he provides training to the field officials and engineers of the PWD department on matters of bridge designing. The programme has been funded by World Bank.

No THrEaT To CHaNdMarI FLYoVEr

“It is a routine process of wear and tear. But since the gap at the divider threatens to cause some un-wanted accident, we have barricaded the area temporarily and we will repair it accordingly. Last February, there was an expansion gap that ap-peared on one side of the footpath of the flyover after which it was fitted with two steel plates on both the sides. Such works keeps getting done at regular intervals,” the source added.

The official source further stat-ed that the regular maintenance of the flyovers and over bridges located in the city has been looked after by the maintenance staff and repairing is done if and whenever needed.

The Chandmari flyover is the oldest flyover, constructed in Guwa-hati in 1989. Currently, there are 11 flyovers and over-bridges in the city.

mrinmoyee.hazarika@g-plus.in

MRInMOYEE haZaRIKa

According to the rule, no

pedestrians should cross

the flyover over the dividers”“

A gap in the Chandmari Flyover

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 7

“

mrinmoyee.hazarika@g-plus.in

In The News

Lack of basic security arrange-ments like single door entry and exit system at the Guwahati rail-

way station poses a serious threat to the passengers in terms of safety and security while waiting at the platform as well as travelling by train.

After the blast took place in the Guwahati-Bangalore express at the Chennai railway station a few days back, which left a young woman dead, it is high time to review the security arrangements in major railway sta-tions across the country.

The Guwahati Railway Station, being the busiest and one of the major stations in the entire North east region is still striving with some serious se-curity issues.

“New technologies have been in-stalled to enhance the surveillance system of the station in the recent time, but there are still some lacunas in the basic security arrangements of the Guwahati railway station. There are various entry and exit points in and around the station through which anyone can come and go. Availability of multi level entry and exit points has been causing difficulty in keeping a close watch at those points,” sources at the Guwahati Railway Station told G Plus.

The station has 7 platforms and the current manpower in the security staff including the RPF (Railway Police Force) and GRP (Government Rail-way police) is not sufficient enough to

control any unwanted incidents that might occur in the Guwahati railway station.

“Both the RPF and GRP are re-sponsible for looking after the security scenario of a railway station. With-out the help of GRP, RPF cannot take control of the entire security arrange-ments of a railway station, because it is the state government, which is re-sponsible for controlling the law and order situation of a particular state. At present, 20 RPF personnel are in place on a 12-hour long duty and another 20 are in place to cover the rest of the day. It would be of great help if additional forces are provided. A group of 4 to 5 RPF escorts are provided in the night and other major trains like the Rajd-hani express,” the source said.

According to the information available with the RPF, the Guwahati railway station, there are five DFMDs (Door Frame Metal Detector) placed in the entrance, exit and platforms of the station. Two more DFMDs will be installed in the newly constructed escalator of the station. There are two luggage scanners in both the entry and exit points of the station and two sniff-er dogs are there with the RPF to carry out routine checking in and around the station. Besides, in order to keep constant surveillance on the commut-ers, during the month of March this year, 22 CC TVs have been installed at various places of the station.

“As of now, since January, 2014, altogether 114 cases have been regis-tered with RPF, Guwahati and out of those cases, 134 have been arrested under different sections of Railway Act,” Inspector, RPF, Guwahati railway station, Ranjit Kumar Bezbaruah told G Plus.

The station wears a new look after the Railways has worked on a series of new projects to boost passenger ame-nities and give a modern touch to the place as part of a major remodelling exercise.

“A vintage MG steam engine has been set up in front of the station and an escalator, the construction of which has been completed recently, would be operated at the station. The

The recent blasts, in the Guwahati-Bangalore Express at the Chennai station, have once again raised fears and concerns about the security arrangements at railway stations. Similar

questions on security have also come up about the Guwahati Railway Station.

remodelling exercise also includes wa-ter fountains, a second entry gate from the Paltan bazaar side, a separate VIP entrance to platform number one, a rickshaw stand outside the main sta-tion gate, a food plaza, a 46x8 meter long waiting hall for general second class passengers and more. The con-struction of some of these have been completed,” PRO, NF railway, Nripen Bhattacharyya told G plus.

Seeking cooperation from the public while crossing railway level crossings to avoid accidents, Bhat-tacharyya said, “Carelessness shown on part of the general public while crossing a railway track is one of the main reasons of accidents caused by a running train. Further, the passen-gers can ensure safety and security for themselves and their fellow passen-gers by following some minor safety norms. They should report to the RPF on duty immediately if they encounter any person with doubtful behaviour.”

As on February 2, 2014, there are 731 railway level crossings under the NF railway, out of which 492 are manned and 239 are unmanned. Gu-wahti has 10 railway level crossings and all of them are manned all round the clock. Similarly, there are six over-bridges in Maligaon, Panbazar, Athg-aon, BK Kakoti road, Chandmari and Noonmati.

New technologies have been installed

to enhance the surveillance system

of the station in the recent time,

but there are still some lacunas in

the basic security arrangements

of the Guwahati railway station”

MRInMOYEE haZaRIKa

MuLTI ENTrY-ExITS IN GHY rLY STaTIoN PoSES daNGEr

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 20148

In The News

dBu students organise child rights exhibition

THE WEEK THaT WaS

In their commitment towards a child friendly society, the students of Post Graduate Pro-

gramme in Human Rights (Child Rights and Development), Don Bosco University, organized a Child Rights Exhibition at South Point School, Guwahati to sensitize school children about their rights and responsibilities. The Exhibition is the first of its kind in Assam. The exhibition showcased a collection of

posters, slogans and collage made by the students of South Point School providing an insight into their views on the rights and responsi-bilities of children. The students of Assam Don Bosco University set up a stall demonstrating cartoons on child labour, child marriage, right to education, child trafficking, child abuse, importance of child line, role of Child Welfare Committee and Juvenile Justice Board.

Memorandum to Gu VC over resultsMembers of the Students’ Fed-

eration of India (SFI), Kamrup City Committee, staged a demonstra-tion at Gauhati University on May 7 and later submitted a memorandum to the GU Vice Chancellor, Mridul Hazarika demanding timely decla-ration of results of re-evaluation of answer-scripts. “The GU authorities have assured the SFI that the results of re-evaluation of answer-scripts would be declared by May 30, and students can call for re-evaluation of answer scripts till May 14. Another memorandum has been forwarded

by the AASU to GU which stated that the degree course’s final exams are scheduled to start from June 6 onwards which would collide with entrance exams for post graduation courses in several important uni-versities of the country, like Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru Univer-sity, Banaras Hindu University, Jamia Millia Islamia, etc would also be holding their entrance exams around the same period. The AASU president Shankar Prasad Ray requested to the VC to work out a solution to avert the date clashes of the exams.

amway vows to combat child malnutrition

With a mission to help people live better lives and achieve their po-

tential, Amway unveiled a global campaign named “Raise your hand, fight global child Malnu-trition”. Under this initiative, Amway Opportunity Founda-tion (AOF) launched “Power of Five” an advocacy program to build awareness on Child Malnu-trition. Amway distributors and employees and NGO partners at 105 locations came forward to provide colourful handprints to a global mural. For every colour-ful handprint Amway will donate US$1 summing up to a total of US $ 400,000 to CARE International towards the support of underpriv-ileged children and by doing so, AOF attempts to break the 30,000 hand print Guiness World record. Amway launched this global cam-paign to fight against child mal-nourishment on the occasion of its 16th anniversary celebrations in India and also marks the 80th anniversary celebration of its flag-ship brand Nutrilite.

Blue Star launches new split aCs

Air-conditioning and com-mercial refrigeration major player, Blue Star limited,

has announced the launch of a new range of highly intelligent and eco-friendly inverter split air condi-

tioners for the residential segment. These air conditioners, apart from contemporary features and sophis-ticated technology, offer high ener-gy efficiency resulting in significant power savings.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest Bank, donated a School Bus to Snehalaya (House of

Love), a registered Charitable Trust to enable the organization to pro-vide transport facility to the poor and underprivileged children for their school education. Shri Sanjay Kr. Magoo, Chief General Manager,

State Bank of India, North Eastern Circle handed over the key of the School Bus to Fr. Lukose Cheruvalel, Director of Snehalaya in presence of Shri Mahendra A. Sahu, General Manager, SBI, N.E. Circle and other senior functionaries of the Bank at a function held at the premises of Jyoti Snehalaya, Beltola.

SBI donates school bus to Snehalaya

The All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) has opposed

SEBA’s proposed move to bring certain changes into the High School Leaving Certificate exams patterns. The AIDSO’s state com-mittee has stated that the SEBA is mulling over bringing a system whereby 30 percent of marks would be added from the half yearly ex-ams that are conducted during the tenth standard and also 20 percent from the school projects. The students outfit has stated that such rules would render the mat-

ric exams to be useless. They said that undue power would be given in the hands of the school teachers who would be giving the 50% per-cent of marks that would be com-ing in under the new system. The students outfit also said that undue favouritism would be practiced by many teachers and also bribes can be demanded to give good marks to students. The AIDSO further stated that the SEBA should have consulted the proposals with the educationists, students and guard-ians instead of abruptly introduc-ing the new system.

SEBa’s proposed changes to HSLC opposed

The Criminal Investigation De-partment (CID) of Assam Po-lice has managed to rescue 15

children including boys and a girl in age group of 9 to 16 years from Ben-galuru. They have been brought back to the city on May 8 with the help of a web portal launched by the Union home ministry in February to check human trafficking. The children were rescued from different factories in Bangalore, following the investigation into complaints about nine missing children registered last month. The children were taken to Bangalore by “middlemen” with the promise of jobs as their poor parents could not afford food and education for them. All of them hail from Dibrugarh, Sonitpur, Golaghat, Nagaon, Baksa and Dhubri districts. But they were found work-ing in garages, plywood factories and

as domestic help. Superintendent of police, CID, Violet Baruah said, “The children have faced harassment and are in trauma. We will try to speak to them during counselling at the shelter homes. They mostly belong to poor families who were targeted by a well-knit network of human traffickers. The CID had opened an anti-human trafficking unit in 2011. At present, there are 14 units across Assam which handles cases of human traffick-ing, including women and children. Sources said the problem is increasing because of lack of proper awareness in villages about human trafficking rackets. A recent study of Unicef and the state government on trafficking of women and children in Assam found Sonitpur district as a major source of women trafficking, followed by Kam-rup and Kokrajhar.

Trafficked children brought back to assam

World red Cross day observed

The World Red Cross Day was observed on May 8 to pay homage to the

founder of the Red Cross move-ment, Nobel Laureate, Jean Henry Dunant. To be a part of the global movement and to make the day memorable, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) had selected a theme this year for the Red Corss Day as “My Red Cross.” While different activities were organized across the world to make the day, the Indian Red Cross Society, Assam State Branch, also organized a day long programme on the same day. The programme had start-ed with the flag hoisting and flo-ral tribute to Sir Dunant by Mrs Renuka Devi Barkakati, Chair-man of the outfit’s state branch. After that a long procession was taken out across the main road of the city. Several students of the Red Cross Nurses Training Centre, Junior Red Cross Units of various schools took part in the procession.

audio Cd on Lakshminath Bezbaruah’s best poems releasedAami Asomiya Nohou

Dukhiya”, an audio CD containing the recitation

of Lakshminath Bezbaruah’s famous poem was recently released by the All Assam Student’s Union (AASU) on May 4 at Swahid Niwas, Uzanbazar. The entire poem has been recited by Amarjyoti Choudhury and the CD was launched by Rupkonwar Jyo-tiprasad Aggarwala’s daughter Gya-nashree Pathak, Bishnu Rabha’s son

Prithviraj Rabha and Phani Sarma’s son Sujit Sarma. While speaking at the ceremony, Choudhury, who voiced the poem in the audio CD, said that this poem is perhaps the greatest work by Bezbaruah. He said that this poem contains all the glories and history of Assam which every-body should know. AASU’s advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya was also pres-ent at the ceremony which was also attended by a host of other people.

“ A division bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising Justice Brojendra Prasad Katakey and

MR Pathak while hearing a PIL filed by Dr Bishnu Prasad Das directed the Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Gu-wahati as well as the Commissioner, GMC to ensure that no marriage hall can function within the territorial limit of the GMC without a trade licence and without compliance of the criteria fixed by the Corporation for that purpose

and also without obtaining the neces-sary permission from the Superinten-dent of Police (Traffic), Guwahati. It would be the responsibility of the State Government as well as the Commis-sioner, GMC to ensure closure of such marriage halls, if any. Civil rights ac-tivist and lawyer Bhaskar Dev Konwar who represented the petitioner says that in Guwahati, only 48 marriage halls or conference halls have trade licences is-sued by the GMC.

HC revises marriage hall rules

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 9

In The News

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There is a reason to smile for Rajjak and Rekib, two broth-ers who were in a mood to

protest. The musician duo, who composed Assamese songs only to sell albums at `1 per copy in their unique way of protest against piracy, has been recognised by the Limca Book of Records for the year 2014.

“It’s great that our effort has been recognised. It will give a boost to our mission to go against the pira-cy which is killing the music indus-try,” said Rekib, the elder one.

Their music album Boroxa’s price was fixed at `1, which was re-leased in 2012. “Piracy has already ruined the music industry here in the state and almost everywhere. Because of this, artists like us, the young ones, are the worst affected. The whole industry suffers but the youngsters are the worst victims. As artistes, we cannot keep quiet and need to raise our voices,” added Rekib.

The album comprises of nine modern Assamese songs by the two singers and they have been assisted

by Manoj Baruah on violin, Jatin Chetia on Tabla and Dholak, Rakesh on Keyboards, Pradyut Mishra on the harmonium and Nirmal Das on guitar and mandolin.

“We fixed the price at `1 but that does not mean it’s of poor quality.

We have tried to give the best pos-sible performance in the album. By pricing it at `1, the only thing we wanted to say is that we are dying due to piracy, as people prefer to download songs instead of buying the original CD these days. So we

have decided to hand over the CD at that cheap price,” he added.

Piracy costs the music industry and the government crores of rupees each year. A music trade analyst said that the state loses around `5 to 10 crore due to piracy. India, which

ranks among the top 10 countries af-fected by piracy, loses an astounding sum of nearly `450 Crores to pirated music.

Zubeen Garg, one of the most popular singers of the region of the present time, also appealed to the people to say no to piracy. “Piracy is a plague which has already killed the industry. It will be difficult for us to survive if it goes on like this. I ap-peal to all the people not to support the piracy but to buy genuine music CDs,” Zubeen implored.

India, which ranks among

the top 10 countries

affected by piracy, loses

an astounding sum of nearly `450 Crores to pirated music.

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G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 201410

Society

cItY GUrdWara celebrates ceNteNarY

“

The yearlong centenary celebra-tions of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha, the third oldest Gurd-

wara in the entire Northeast is un-derway. It is the oldest Gurdwara in Guwahati and the only one that has completed 100 years. Guwahati cur-rently has an all total of seven ma-jor Gurdwaras, in Ulubari, Ambari, Birubari, Fancy Bazar, Maligaon, Bhetapara and Kalitakuchi. However, Gurdwara Singh Sabha is one holy shrine in the city where people from all across the country are welcomed to stay while on their way to other parts of the northeast.

While speaking to Kuldeep Singh, a Sevak of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha, G Plus found out that the Gurdwara was established in the year 1913. “During the 1962’s war between India and China, the langar was provided to the soldiers residing in the railway sta-tion and that was highly appreciable.” Kuldeep further added that the pro-grammes are being conducted in the Gurdwara on a regular basis and these see people attending in huge numbers. “People of all religions are welcomed inside the Gurdwara for langars and services,” Singh said.

Gurdwara Singh Sabha is located at the centre point of Fancy Bazar. The ground floor houses many commer-cial settlements and some of the most popular saree stores in the city like the ‘Dulhan’. The 1st floor of the Gurdwara comprises of the Gurdwara office. The 2nd floor has the main Gurdwara with Guru Granth Sahib, under a canopy, on a platform higher than the floor on which the devotees sit and a Sikh pen-nant hanging atop the canopy.

Sikhism and its HistoryThe history of Sikhism is closely

associated with the history of Punjab and the socio-political situation in medieval India. Sikh distinction was further enhanced by the establish-ment of the Khalsa, by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. Sikhism was created by Guru Nanak, a religious leader and a social reformer during the fif-teenth century in the Punjab region. The religious practice was formalised by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699. The latter baptised five persons from different social backgrounds to form Khalsa. The first five, Pure Ones, then baptised Gobind Singh into the Khalsa fold. This gives the Khalsa, as an organised grouping, a religious his-tory of around 300 years.

shubhOjIT ROY

shubojit.roy@g-plus.in

During the1962’s war

between India and China,

the langar was provided to the

soldiers residing in the railway

station and that was highly

appreciable”

P.P. Singh, the Convenor of the Sabha informed that the Gurdwara, which comprises of a large hall is open for visitors from different communities at a minimal price of `50 or 100. “The hall is being used by the different regiments of the Indian army for accommodation purposes for now,” said Singh. G Plus was made aware of the upcoming programmes during the yearlong centenary celebration like the Gurbani competition and many others. “We are also planning to do a public demonstration on Sikh martial arts in the month of December at the Nehru Stadium,” added Pushp Paul Singh.Speaking of the facilities available in the Gurudwara Singh Sabha, we were told that the Gurdwara is the only place in the fancy Bazar locality, which provides proper hygienic toilet facility for both men and women. Singh also stated that they have demanded the government to provide a piece of land to construct a bhawan under a certain scheme which allows any century old establishment to be equipped with land. “We have also been demanding for a land for the Gurudwara in Chaparmukh but the authorities have not taken our plea on a serious note. Sikh is the only community which had come to Assam 200 years back to fight for the state,” added Singh.

The Sikh SymbolThe circles and the swords are

symbols of weapons signifying self-defense to protect Sikh and everyone else’s belief by stopping injustice. The symbols in front of the altar remind Sikhs to stand up for justice. Sikhs are known as spiritual and warriors. Sikhs were instructed by Guru Gobind Singh Ji to take up arms against tyranny. The fact that the weapons are lying lower than the Guru Granth Sahib shows that the weapons and the warrior part of Sikhs takes the secondary position. Sikhs are spiritual first and then, to de-fend their faith and the faith of others, Sikhs are warriors as well.

The Sikhs have been an influen-tial community during the fight for independence and have played major roles in the socio-economic develop-ment of the country from the longest known time. It is interesting to know that Sikhism is over 500 years old and their contribution towards the society and the nation has been extensive.

• Inthetwoworldwars,83,005Sikhsoldierswerekilledand109,045werewounded.

• Itistheworld’s5thlargestreligion• 26millionfollowersworldwide• ofwhich19millioninIndia• OriginatedinIndia,over500yearsold

• SikhsarelivinginAmericasince1897

• SikhsintheBritishIndianArmytotaledover100,000;i.e.20%oftheBritishIndianArmy.

• Intheyearsto1945,14VictoriaCrosseswereawardedtotheSikhs,apercapitarecordgiventhesizeoftheSikhRegiments.

SIKH FACTS

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 11

cItY GUrdWara celebrates ceNteNarY

Ward Watch

As you take the right turn from near the corner of the police accountability commission

office at B.K Kakoty Road in Ulubari, you enter the Piyali Phukan Road of the city. The road is in an extremely pathetic condition and after a light shower of rain, the area becomes hor-rid to say the least. At the centre point of the road, the ground is muddy, slippery and chocolaty in color. The GMDA has taken up the initiative of constructing drinking water pipelines in association with IVRCL (Iraga-varapu Venkata Reddy Construction Limited) along the road. Even though the workers have assured that the land will be filled back to its original state after its completion within 3 days, G Plus found out that the road problem is nothing new and it has been like this since a long time now.

Although, this problem is noth-ing new for roads in Guwahati, what stands out is the fact that the Piyali Phukan road is right next to the resi-dence of Capt. Robin Bordoloi, the chairman of the GMDA.

Extremely bad roads

Pawan Gupta, a tenant told G Plus that the condition of the road is ex-tremely bad and it is going to be worse

as the rainy season sets in further. He also lambasted about the drain-age system and said, “The drains are so narrow that the drain water can’t pass through freely and to make it worse, when people throw garbage in the drains, the drain completely gets blocked and starts over flowing.”

Water stagnancy“There is a junction point some-

where in the middle of the road which suffers from water stagnancy even when there is very little rainfall. There is also a problem of major traffic con-gestion in that specific junction point of Piyali Phukan road and one of its bye lanes,” said Prahlad Das, a self-employed businessperson. Prahlad further informed us that the stagnan-cy of water in that junction has been persistent for over 20 years now.

PIYaLI PHuKaN road GoES FroM Bad To WorSE

drainage StatusWe were also informed that the

drain does not get cleaned at all and this creates blockage and unhygienic foul odour. “The GMC is not con-cerned about the cleaning of drains. The drains are already very narrow, and so, it should be cleaned on a regu-lar basis. But there is no such thing that happens in this locality,” said Ashok Chandan, a retired government employee.

Theft in the localityAccording to most of the residents

in the locality, theft is also a major is-sue in the area. Interestingly, both Prahlad Das and Ashok Chandan in-dividually mentioned about the chain-snatching problems in the area.

G Plus was informed that around three months back there had been a theft from a house in the locality and jewellery along with other important valuables were stolen. Furthermore, R.P. Singh, a businessperson has lam-basted the government stating that the politicians promise alluring develop-ments prior to the elections, “but once the election is over, the promises are not fulfilled,” said Singh.

Councilor SpeakWhile speaking to the councilor

Ashima Bordoloi of Ward No- 14, G Plus was made aware that the Borsola Beel, which is connected to the drainage system of the Piyali Phukan Road, was recently cleaned. “After the cleaning of the Borsola Beel for which the govern-ment funded an amount of `8 lakh, the drains are comparatively free-flowing now. However, the water weeds keep on growing at the beel and will require regular cleaning,” informed Ashima. She also said that fresh funds are being ex-pected soon, after which the roads will be repaired completely. She also told us that the streetlights have already been installed at the Piyali Phukan Road and are functioning properly.

In its visit to the Piyali Phukan Road, G Plus saw that the road prob-lems were evident and it is also to be noted that the rainy season has just only started, and the fresh work taken up by the GMDA will face a lot of weather hindrances. This may force the laborers to stop work until the next season. Such a situation will surely only worsen the road condition and the problems do not look like they will be going away any-time soon.

Ward No 14

Major Issues dilapidated road conditions

No. of Voters 20,000 (approx.)

Sub division 14a / 14BConcentrated region Piyali Phukan road

shubhOjIT ROY

The drains are so narrow that the

drain water can’t pass through freely and to

make it worse, when people

throw garbage in the drains, the drain completely

gets blocked and starts over

flowing”

“shubhojit.roy@g-plus.in

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 201412

Bazaar

White marble has been prized for its use in sculp-tures since classical times.

Construction marble is a stone which is composed of calcite, dolomite or serpentine which is capable of taking a polish. As the favourite medium for Greek and Roman sculptors and ar-chitects, marble has become a cultural symbol of tradition and refined taste. Its extremely varied and colorful pat-terns make it a favourite decorative material.

From Hills to HomesAccording to Subham Jain of Arihant Marbles in Guwahati, all of the mar-bles in the city arrive from Rajasthan. Rajasthan has long been known as the Indian Dimensional Stone Industry. After quarrying it from the foothills of the Aravali ranges, unique textures and colours of marbles are churned out. The raw blocks are dressed on wire-saws and mono-blade dressers before transporting from stockyard to the diamond gang-saws for pro-cessing. The processing is followed by polishing and packaging and is then transported all over the country.

QualityThe quality of Indian marble is de-termined as per its whiteness, hard-ness, thickness and presence of fibre. Makrana, which is used for floorings in many houses and offices is also the source of the marble that was used in the Taj Mahal. It is situated at a dis-tance of 60 kms from Kishangarh and falls in the Nagaur district of Rajast-han. The different types of Indian mar-ble available in the Guwahati market are Makrana, Green marble and red marble. The design of a marble varies with the fibre design or marks present on the tiles.

PriceMr. Raj Kumar of PRP Buildmart told G Plus that the price list of different marbles are varied and it depends on the quality of the marble i.e. it’s hard-ness, whiteness and fibre detailing.

Indian MarbleMarble Name Rate (in `)

Makrana 50 to 250 per sqft

Jaisalmer 50 to 250 per sqft

Green Marble 80 to 250 per sqft

Red Marble 75 to 250 per sqft

Imported Marble:

Marble Name Rate (in `)

Australian Marble

250 to 1500 per sqft

Italian Marble 250 to 1500 per sqft

Wholesale distribution“We have customers who demand marbles at wholesale prices. The wholesale price is only set when the customer is demanding in bulk,” in-formed Shubham Jain of Arihant Mar-bles. Shubham also informed that the marbles are being distributed in other cities and towns of the northeast like Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Itanagar, Imphal, Mizoram and others. “We distribute in other parts of the northeast at whole-sale rates,” said Shubham.

usageAs a construction material, marble fits in perfectly in modern building designs due to its clean pleasing archi-tectonic style. It combines well with ceramics, wood and other common construction materials. Marble is very durable and can be used in high traffic

areas like staircases and hallways. In fact, typically, marble products come with a 20 year guarantee.Marble is easy to use, clean and main-tain and marble tiles can be applied over almost any surface. They can be cut to fit specific measurements and if well applied, are perfectly adaptable to humid environments.There are also other uses of marble like in making of sculptures of dei-ties, house temples, showcase items and various others. The prices of these materials will vary from the amount of marble used, the intensity in designing and quality of marble.

Why is marble an expensive building material?Since marble is a natural item; its re-serves are depleting and in many parts of the world it is already exhausted therefore it is expensive. It is also mined through blasting and this in-creases wastage. This also makes it ex-pensive. Furthermore, it is very heavy and therefore transportation from one place to another makes it expensive.

The city has numerous outlets that sell marble and the market has been moving steadily for that popular stone.

MarBLE MaGIC

Marble vs GraniteGRANITE MARBLE

Durability Durable Less Durable

Resistant to acidic foods

No. Vinegar, lemon, am-monia and other acids can stain and dull the surface

No

May be damaged by cleaning liquids No Yes

Porous Yes Yes

Usable outdoors Yes No

Stainable Yes Yes

Heat resistant Yes Yes

Scratch resistant Yes No

Low maintenance Yes, other than basic care every 6-8 months No

Granite is more durable and resistant to etching, staining and scratching compared with marble. So kitchen countertops use granite more often than marble. Marble works great for other ar-eas like bathrooms.Marble is undoubtedly one of the important in-clusions in the modern homes of any urban in-frastructure. Besides giv-ing an element of class, marble being a stone also helps in keeping the floor temperature of a room to its minimum during hot summers.

shObhOjIT ROY

We have customers who

demand marbles at wholesale

prices. The wholesale price is only set when the customer is

demanding in bulk”

“

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Business

Guwahati has been a dumping ground for duty-evaded coals from Meghalaya and the city

has a big market of illegal coal trade. All Dimasa Students’ Union

(ADSU) and the Dima Hasao district committee has moved the NGT. They have submitted before the tribunal that this sort of rat hole mining op-erations have been in practice in the Jaintia Hills in the state of Meghalaya for many years without being regu-lated and that too in an unscientific manner.

After going through the scien-tific study of OP Singh, professor (department of environment studies) in the North Eastern Hill University (Nehu), the Principal bench of Jus-tice P. Jyothimani, judicial member, Justice M.S. Nambiar, another judi-cial member, and expert members G.K. Pandey, P.C. Mishra and Ran-jan Chatterjee observed that neither the government nor the people were benefiting from “illegal mining” and only the “coal mafias” were gaining.

Rat-hole mining is a primi-tive method that entails clearing of ground vegetation and digging pits

ranging from five to 100 square me-tres to reach the coal seam. Tunnels are made into the seam sideways to extract the coal, which is brought into the pit by using a conical bas-ket or a wheelbarrow manually. Coal seams are reached by excavating the side edge of the hill slopes and then the coal is extracted through a hori-zontal tunnel.

The coal from the tunnel or pit is taken out and dumped on nearby un-mined area, from where it is carried to the larger dumping places near the highways for its trade and transpor-tation.

Entire roadsides in and around the mining areas are used for piling of coal which is a major source of air, water and soil pollution. Off-road movements of trucks and other vehi-cles in the area cause further damage to the ecology of the area. Every year, new areas are brought under mining and the area under coal mining in Jaintia hills is increasing every day.

It was also informed that there are umpteen numbers of cases where, by the virtue of rat hole mining dur-ing the rainy season, water floods into the mining areas resulting in the deaths of many number of individu-

als including employees and workers.The department of central excise

often launches massive crackdown on coalminers from Meghalaya for allegedly evading payment of central excise duties.

Coal is leviable to the central ex-cise duty since March 2011. Sources in Central Excise added traders and dealers particularly from Meghalaya continue to evade the central excise duties by way of clandestine removal, without payment of the leviable duty from the mines and depots leading to a huge revenue loss to the govern-ment.

The statement added that exten-sive persuasive efforts by the central

excise authorities to bring about compliance have met with resistance and evasion continues with impunity.

Sources added that in view of re-luctance of the coal miners in Jaintia and West Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, the department launched anti eva-sion drive and has a result of 82 trucks containing around 1188.97 MT of coal valued around `5.69 Crore was seized. Similarly nine trucks contain-ing 81 MT were detained near Badar pur in Assam last year.

Rat hole mines are termed as small-scale coal mines, which oper-ate beyond the purview of Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act. There has been talks for quite some time now for reg-ulating the rat-hole mining sector in the absence of which several miners have lost their lives. In the past, mili-tants have chosen labourers working in these mines as soft targets.

There are 576 Million Tonnes of coal in Meghalaya. The sub bitu-minous coal is spread across in the South Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills, East Garo Hills, Jaintia Hills and East Khasi Hills. The annual export volume of three Land Custom Sta-tion at Meghalaya with Bangladesh is around `200 Crores. Majority of items traded is coal and limestone.

rat-hole mining to be stoppedWhat is expected to slow down the dumping of coal in Guwahati from Meghalaya, the National

Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered a stop to rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya.

shaMbhavI

haRKIRaT sInGh

To mark the third consecu-

tive year of the W o o d l a n d -UNICEF part-nership, sup-

porting the water and sanitation programme (WASH) in schools, officials from both the parties have visited rural primary schools in As-sam. The group includes Harkirat Singh, Managing Director, Wood-land, Tushar Rane, chief of field of-fice, UNICEF, Murat Sahin, global advisor, WASH in schools, UNICEF and others.

Interacting the media here in Guwahati, Harkirat Singh, MD, Woodland said, “We started with a collection of 1̀0 or more volun-tarily with every invoice and scaled this up with revenues from limited edition T-shirts, specially launched from the programme. With a na-tional reach through over 480 ex-clusive stores, we have been able to reach out to the masses and garner their support for a sizeable funding over 12.5 million INR”

The names of the schools vis-ited by the team are Sajjanpur and Dahali primary school, situated in Kamrup (R).

uNICEF-Woodland partnership for water sanitation and hygiene

The department of central excise

often launches massive crackdown on coalminers from

Meghalaya for allegedly evading

payment of central excise duties”

“

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 201414

In Conversation

“Born and brought up at Fatashil,

Guwahati, Rajiv Dey is bringing laurels to the city and the state.

He is the first swimmer from the north-east region who will lead the Indian Common Wealth Games Swimming team as a coach for the CWG 2014. The 31-years-old swimmer started swim-ming in 1995 and in 2002, he repre-sented the country in the Zurich Mara-thon and received gold for the country. G Plus interacts with the coach.

What made you choose swimming as your career?

I started swimming in 1995 when I was 14. I received recognition in the national sports scene and won fame for the country in 2002. I also represented the state for many sporting events and won many medals. As everyone has to choose a career, I chose swimming and started my career as an instructor and joined Delhi Public School. I worked there till 2007.

how did you receive national recognition?

When I was working, I was si-multaneously looking for options to get better at my work. In 2006, I went to Singapore to do a specialisation course in swimming. I did not have money so I took a bank loan to go there. In 2008 I joined IIT Guwahati as a swimming coach and in 2010, I went to the University of Miami for advanced training in swimming. This

trip was sponsored by the university as I applied for the course. In 2010, I got a FINA swimming coach certificate from Switzerland and in 2011, I went to the University of Southern California to work with David Salo and assisted him in training Olympians. Before the London 2012 Olympics, I trained the

CITY SWIMMER TO TRAIN CWG TROOP

A DUTCH GURU

Bangladeshi swimming team and one of the swimmers got selected for the final event. In 2013 I was invited by the United Nations to present a paper named Pond to Podium and now the Sports Authority of India has selected me to train the Indian swimmers for Common Wealth Games.

how can people from this region aspire to be among the best?

The region has a lot of talent and there are examples of people earning fame in state and national level. But, until a sportsman reaches the national level, it is hard to get the training and

backing which is required from the authorities. So, there are people who are earning name and fame for both the city and the state, but to produce more of such talents, the authorities should plan and do something at the grass root level.

The region has a lot of

talent and there are examples of people earning

fame in state and national

level. But, until a sportsman

reaches the national level,

it is hard to get the training and

backing which is required from the authorities”

What was your inspiration and motivation behind leaving your country and coming down to India?

From very early on, I was inter-ested in the Eastern world. When I was about to finish my high school, I was introduced to the Art of Living. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji had visited The Nether-lands at that time for a programme and someone informed me that a spiritual master was coming from India and it got me quite excited. The thing that got me so interested was Ravi Shankar Ji’s speech and the the part where he men-tioned, “stressing the need for reviving human values in society.”

Why do you think there is so much violence all around?

When I first met Ravi Shankar Ji, he gave a very good example, which really appealed to me. If you are a fan of Liverpool, you get upset when your team loses. It happens because you at-tach yourself to the team and it hurts your ego. If you say Jesus is bad, Jesus

A Dutch by nationality, Swami Purnachaitanya was in the city where G Plus caught up with him for a tête-à-tête.

won’t mind but the identity is so strong and you are so much attached that it will hurt your ego because you would think that ‘I follow Jesus, if Jesus is bad, it means I am bad.’ This is one of the reasons, which results in a lot of vio-lence.

You have been travelling for quite some time now, what is your objective behind it?

Art of Living has two aspects -one is service project, which is wide in range. It covers conflict resolution, women empowerment and rural devel-opment. Another aspect is self-devel-

opment where we teach people how to manage their minds, how to live stress free, be happier and lead a responsible life. So, in order to see these aspects, I have to travel from place to place. I am mainly looking after our activities in Arunachal Pradesh currently. In Assam we have 20 schools now and in Tripura, we have 45.

recently, we have seen some spiritual leaders supporting specific political parties. do you think this is right?

No, it is not right. Every individual has the right to vote for the right per-son. As a spiritual leader, you can only make people aware that there is corrup-tion or some wrong doings going on in the society. You have to choose the right person instead of falling for some-one blindly by taking some money or some materialistic things. But whatever it is, no one can tell a person who to choose or who to vote for. There have been religious leaders who have openly preached which party to vote for, which I feel is very wrong. We should not de-prive people of their rights and their freedom.

I follow Jesus, if Jesus is

bad, it means I am bad.’ This

is one of the reasons, which

results in a lot of violence”

G plus fEaTuRE

G plus fEaTuRE Swami Purnachaitanya grew up in Haarlem, a small city in The

Netherlands and had a keen interest in the cultures and philosophies from the

East from a very young age. At the age of 16, during a public program organised by The Art of

Living, he met Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for the first time - a meeting that would

give his life a whole new direction.

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 15

Life

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji

You know, the word Surrender has two aspects. One is the eastern aspect of surrender, and the other is from the west-ern perspective.

When you are defeated then you surrender, isn’t it? This is one type of surrender, i.e., slavery.

Slaves surrender themselves. It is not really surrender from the heart, but it is just out of physical, mental and emotional weak-nesses. You subjugate because of weakness. This is one type of sur-render.

Now, in a spiritual sense, it is completely the other way around. In a spiritual sense, you are bothered by your negative emotions and negative qualities. And carrying it is a big botheration for you. Dropping all that negativity, which you do not want to carry, which you cannot handle is called ‘Surrender’, in the spiritual sense.

It is completely different and opposite to the western type of surrender, which means defeat. Here this type of surrender is win-ning over. You have won over yourself, your mind, and your nega-tivity by dropping it and giving it away.

So, in a spiritual sense, surrender means strength, not slav-ery. That is why when you go to a vaishnava temple, they say ‘Sha-ranagati’, which means ‘Surrender to God’, and when you do sha-ranagati, they crown you. They take a silver crown and put it on your head. The meaning behind this in the spiritual sense is, if you have surrendered your negativity, you have become so strong that you become a king.

In Kannada it is said, ‘Sharana Sharanarthhi’, which means, ‘I surrender to the surrendered one’.

Here, the saints are called surrendered ones. And the saints are the most powerful and most respected, because they have given up all their negativity and surrendered to the Divinity. When negativ-ity is given away, we remain very positive and that is the saint-hood. Sainthood cannot come without surrender, and sainthood is not slavery! Sainthood means being very powerful.

Sainthood and slavery, both use the word surrender. One sur-renders their negative qualities, and the other accept their weak-nesses. This is the difference between two sides of surrender. When you surrender your negative qualities, and all that you don’t want to have, you become powerful.

The spiritual type of surrender makes you very powerful, while the western type, makes you weak.

Now I want to take you one step further. What is there to sur-render? There is nothing to surrender! Just relax.

Know everything, anyways belongs to the big mind, to the uni-verse. Anyway, everything belongs to God.

Don’t struggle to surrender, thinking, ‘Oh, I am not able to sur-render a hundred percent’, or, ‘I am able to surrender hundred percent’. All this is just mental gymnastics. I tell you, drop all this, just relax and be simple.

Purity in thought, clarity in mind and sincerity in action.

surrender Is Very Powerful

gritu21@yahoo.com

INNER PEACERITu GupTa

Inner peace (or peace of mind) re-fers to a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with

enough knowledge and understand-ing to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress. As put beautiful-ly by Gautama Buddha, “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” Many of us look for that inner con-tentment here and there but every-thing is within us. If we think we are happy then we feel we are happy.

Happiness comes from within us and our thought process plays a very important part in it. We can be at peace if we stop comparing ourselves with others and start accepting how we are. Acceptance simply means recognising your ego’s voice and rejecting it. Knowing that the only person we can change is ourselves, enables us to do this. The moment that feeling of acceptance comes, we start making our lives simpler. How many times have we stopped to ad-mire nature? I guess it is very rarely we do that because things, which are easily available are taken for granted

and we don’t even value its worth.However, peace of mind is largely

a matter of attention. If we keep the flashlight of our attention on our neg-ative circumstances, if we constantly attend to the “gloom and doom” voices in our heads, then we will surely be overcome by stress. Repeat-ing ‘anchor’ words or phrases, such as ‘peace like a river’ or ‘everything is as it should be’ or ‘I am strong; I am calm’ help redirect the mind to more peaceful and positive thoughts. Find an affirmation that feels right to you and experience how it can elicit a feeling of calm.

“PEACE OF MIND IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF CONFLICT FROM OUR LIFE BUT THE ABILITY TO COPE WITH IT.”

By noticing and appreciating other people’s kindness, we become aware how much it really matters in daily living. In dealing with difficult telephone calls, perhaps an angry person on the other end of the line, we can choose to be kind.

If someone asks for a donation for the umpteenth time, we can deal with the request kindly. Obviously,

there are times we cannot give what-ever is being asked of us; when we do not have the means or desire to agree to a certain request. In these circum-stances, saying no with kindness is the best choice.

Sometimes kindly refusing to provide assistance is important in helping promote personal growth in others and it allows them to learn some important life lessons.

If someone is gossiping about someone we know, we can be silently kind, refusing to be drawn into the conversation. By choosing kindness, we allow positive energy to flow from us to others and prevent negative energy from reaching us or infusing situations. In this way, we create and maintain a connection to our higher selves. And, realize just how good it feels to be kind.

There is a lot of negative energy and craziness in this world, but we can all learn to live with inner peace. If your intention is strong and comes from the deepest part of you, it will happen. Outwardly, nothing chang-es; peace comes from making chang-es inside you.

Just a couple of hours away from the city of Guwahati and I never thought this would be the right place to write

and compose. A place, which whispered rare secrets were visible only if you al-lowed your heart to take over your mind. And,Ididjustthat!Forthefirsttimeinmylife, I just let me be myself! Time seemed to stand still and I just allowed my heart to do whatever it wanted to do, without reprimanding it. My heart teased me to no end and made me write lines, which were magical!

Chandubi, a place which is most often populated during winters, more so because people like to laze around the huge placid lake, dream endlessly, while they ate oranges. But deciding to go during a time when there was just us and no one else, was heaven. There were moments when we could almost hear ourselves breathing as we sat in the As-sam Tourism lodge, which was very close to the Chandubi Lake. An hour after we arrived at the guesthouse, it rained heavily and the electricity went dead for a fairly long time.

Soon, an hour later, when the sky cleared and the full moon came through, the place was transformed into a fairy-land, with glow-worms performing for us as we sat glued to the scene. As Kalita, the care-taker lit a candle for us, I sang endlessly and a while later, I just couldn’t help but compose, as usual, a poem, the lines of which came straight from the heart.

Dinner was sumptuous and Kalita divulged the secret of the tasty meal of lentils, rice and vegetables to be-ingcookedoverfirewood. I remembergreedily helping myself to four servings of lentils, with a dash of fresh lemon and green chillies.

Everyone decided to hit the hay early, but not me. I stayed up to write.

Maybe I would get a second place like this, but I wanted to make the most of the present situation. It was well past mid-night when I slept.

I woke up to Tirus’ sharp shout, “Mom, wake up or we are going to leave you!” I jumped out of bed, brushed and got into something before Tirus decided to leave me.

We drove down to the Chandubi ghat, where a boat approached us. Sanjay and Vijay, with friendly smiles writ across their faces, took us across the Lake, which left us awestruck. There was just this bounteous, breath-taking, sce-nic landscape all around us. And apart from the gentle resonance of the oar on the water, there was a stillness and com-forting calm, which involuntarily made us whisper to each other.

The other bank had this relaxed, lazy Karbi village through which we walked and saw things, which left us richer than we expected.

Having grown up in a concrete jungle, Tirus would squeal with delight seeing his natural surroundings. As he walkedpastfieldsofricehekeptaskingquestions to Sanjay, who walked ahead of us and kept answering his queries, never for once thinking that they were strange or queer.

At the end of one turn in a field,we were in for a lovely surprise. Right in front us, flowing froma huge rockycrevice was a waterfall; the Anne Falls. Tirus, after much coaxing and cajoling decided to have a taste of the ‘natural shower’, which the Sanjay-Vijay duo made in a fraction of a second as they stuck a bamboo split in half in one of the cracks in the waterfall. The water smoothlyflowedthroughitandfellintothe small lagoon, where by the time Tirus was expectantly waiting for the icy cold water to hit him. As it did, he jumped and

screamed in joy!How could a village tour be com-

plete without meeting the oldest man who actually started the settlement and also without watching what was being weaved at the loom?

As we took the walk back and then the ride this time in a covered boat across the lake, I realised to my content-ment what wonderful guides we found in Sanjay and Vijay, untrained in tourism management but who would put most trained guides to shame. Their soft, unas-suming nature blended so well with the placid lake we crossed and ‘uncrossed’.

We went back to the lodge happy as happy could be and after lunch, slept for hours, without a care in the world.

Another evening when the moon rose red and large and the fire-fliesdanced even crazier than ever. Again, another evening of my feverish writing. Oh, I wished I could stay here forever! I could probably come up with endless chronicles. However, this night I decided to sleep early and wake up late!

Iwasthefirsttowakeup.AsItip-toed to the veranda of the lodge, a crisp morning greeted me. I meditated, prayed, read, sang, wrote and in no time, Tirus was up and playing cricket.

Lunch was again a delectable spread. We told Kalita how we are go-ing to miss his food.

As we drove back through dense green foliage, teagardens, ricefields,markets, then the city to reach home, we felt our spirits soar. We were ready to take on the world with a new found energy. Two days of a holiday; timeless and priceless!

Pristine Waters!

TInaT aTIfa MasOOd

Ritu Gupta is a psychological counsellor dealing with people having individual, marital, job related and child related issues. She also assists Dr. Deepak Goenka with infertility counselling.

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 201416

Health

The term “obesity” is used to de-scribe the health condition of anyone who is significantly above

his or her ideal healthy weight. Don’t be discouraged by the term. It simply means you are 20% or more above your ideal weight, and you are not alone. Obesity is defined simply as too much body fat. Our body is made up of water, fat, protein, carbohydrate and various vitamins and minerals. Obesity is a ma-jor public health problem. Obesity and overweight epidemic is closely linked to the rise in the incidence of heart disease and stroke (Cardiovascular disorders).Cardiovascular disorders are one of the largest health problems in almost all of the developed and developing nations of the world. Cardiovascular disease kills more people than any other disease and account for the largest share in health expenditure.

Obesity makes the person more likely to develop conditions in-cluding Heart disease and stroke, High blood pressure, Diabetes, Some cancers, Gallbladder disease and gallstones, Os-teoarthritis, Gout, Breathing problems, such as sleep apnea (when a person stops breathing for short episodes dur-ing sleep) and asthma.

Not everyone who is obese has all of those problems. The risk rises if anyone has a family history of one of those conditions. Also, If the weight is mostly around someone’s stomach (the “apple” shape), that may be riskier than if the person has a “pear” shape, meaning that the person’s extra weight is mostly around the hips and buttocks. Here’s a closer look at seven conditions that are linked to being obese or over-weight.

Heart Disease and StrokeAtherosclerosis is the process that

gradually hardens the walls of the arter-ies making them lose their elasticity and finally blocks them up or narrows them down to impair blood flow. The blockage is caused by fatty and fibre-like deposits. Atherosclerosis is the main underlying cause of cardiovascular disease. When it affects the heart, it may lead to coronary artery disease and heart attacks. When this affects the brain it causes strokes and when it affects the peripheral blood vessels, it leads to peripheral artery disease. Obesity is inexorably related to atherosclerosis. Furthermore the as-sociation between excess body weight and atherosclerosis may be stronger in men than in women who have not yet achieved menopause.

Dr.Bikash Rai Das,Consultant Cardiac Surgeon

Do not bath immediately after a workout to prevent catching a cold. Wait for 5-10 mins and then cool off with a shower.

Health Tip

Weigh your risks downHealth risks Linked to obesity

High blood pressureExtra weight makes one more

likely to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Both of those conditions make heart disease or stroke more likely. Obesity has a direct correlation with blood pres-sure. In the three US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), high blood pressure was found to be associated with obesity or overweight. The good news is that losing a small amount of weight can reduce one’s chances of developing heart disease or a stroke. Losing 5%-10% of your weight is proven to lower your chance of developing heart dis-ease.

Type 2 DiabetesMost people who have type 2

diabetes are overweight or obese. One can cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by losing weight, eating a bal-anced diet, getting adequate sleep, and exercising more. If someone has type 2 diabetes, losing weight and becom-ing more physically active can help control your blood sugar levels. Be-coming more active may also help you need less diabetes medication

CancerCancers of the intestine, breast

(after menopause), endometrium (the lining of the uterus), kidney, and oesophagus (food pipe) are linked to obesity. Some studies have also re-ported links between obesity and can-cers of the gallbladder, ovaries, and pancreas.

Gallbladder DiseaseGallbladder disease and gall-

stones are more common in over-weight or obese persons. Ironically, weight loss itself, particularly rapid weight loss or loss of a large amount of weight, can make one more likely to get gallstones. Losing weight at a rate of about 450 gram a week is less likely to cause gallstones.

OsteoarthritisOsteoarthritis is a common joint

condition that most often affects the knee, hip, or back. Carrying extra weight places extra pressure on these joints and wears away the cartilage (tissue cushioning the joints) that normally protects them. Weight loss can ease stress on the knees, hips, and lower back and may improve the symptoms of osteoarthritis.

GoutGout is a disease that affects the

joints. It happens when someone has too much uric acid in the blood. The extra uric acid can form crystals that deposit in the joints. Gout is more common in overweight people. The

more one weighs, the more likely the person is to get gout. Over the short term, sudden weight changes may lead to a flare-up of gout. If someone has a history of gout, check with your doctor for the best way to lose weight.

Sleep ApneaSleep apnea is a breathing condi-

tion that’s linked to being overweight. Sleep apnea can cause a person to snore heavily and to briefly stop breathing during sleep. Sleep apnea may cause daytime sleepiness and make heart disease and stroke more likely. Weight loss often improves sleep apnea.

Healthiest weightEveryone needs a goal and posi-

tive reasons to achieve that goal. Even losing a few kilos can provide you with cardiovascular benefits, so every step in the right direction is a step toward healthier living. When your weight is in a healthy range, your body more efficiently circulates blood and your fluid levels are more easily managed.

What is childhood obesity?Childhood Obesity is under mag-

nifying glass today. Obesity is caus-ing a broad range of health problems among children today, that previously weren’t seen until adulthood. These include high blood pressure, type 2 di-abetes and elevated blood cholesterol levels. There are also psychological ef-fects, obese children are more prone to low self-esteem, negative body image and depression. And excess weight at young ages has been linked to higher and earlier death rates in adulthood.

Work with your doctor to lose weight

Every adult should have his or her BMI (Body Mass Index) calculated at least once a year. The American Heart Association offers an online BMI cal-culator for adults. Patients with a BMI of 30 or higher are considered obese and need treatment. The American Heart Association recommends obese patients participate in a medically su-pervised weight loss program two or three times a month for at least six months. The treatment plan for weight loss involves eating fewer calories than your body needs, getting aero-bic exercise for 30 minutes most days of the week and learning the skills to change unhealthy behaviours. Weight loss surgery may be considered for se-verely obese patients who have one or more obesity-related health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep apnea. You can talk with your doctor about obesity screening and your best treatment options for weight loss.

Obesity is causing a broad range of health

problems among children today, that previously

weren’t seen until adulthood. These include high blood pressure, type

2 diabetes and elevated blood cholesterol levels.”

“

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 17

Weigh your risks downFood

Grilling a piece of protein or vegetable can be so thera-peutic that at times I resort

to grilling an entire meal for the day. Yes, my folks love it and that makes me very happy. But since its Mother’s Day coming up this week on Sunday, how about surprising your mom and grill a dish for her and make her feel special.

My mother’s day special are the following

grilled delightGrilled fish with grilled tomatoes and Garlic dip

HOW TO GO ABOUT IT?

1. Fish (any of your choice), cleaned, washed and dried

2. For the marination I have used 30 ml king chilly in-fused vodka, classic all herbs mixed-about 2 teaspoons, 1 tea spoon of chilli flakes, gar-lic and onion juice-3 table-spoon, lemon juice-2 table-spoon, lemon rinds grated-2 teaspoon, salt and pepper.

3. Rub all the above men-tioned ingredients prop-erly all over the fish and also inside the cut stomach walls. Set the fish aside for over 3 hours to marinate.

HOW TO GRILL?, It’s very simple!!

1. Brush some olive oil over the coiled grill rack and place the marinated fish in it. Grill it in the microwave for 12 minutes. Once done, carefully hold the fish and place it upside down for grilling the other half part of the body. Grill it again for good 12 minutes.

2. Once done, carefully remove the fish out of the grill rack and place it in a flat tray. Be careful to handle the fish or it may break

For the Grilled Tomatoes-Garlic Dip:

1. Place 2 tomatoes and one garlic whole into the grill rack and grill them for 15 minutes. You can keep rolling the tomatoes and the garlic for equal and perfect grilling.

2. Once done, carefully place the onions in the mixing bowl.

3. Remove the garlic peel and once again roast the garlic pods in a flat tawa for about 3-5 minutes. As they are grilled, we put them in the mixing bowl along with the tomatoes. Now mash them together. Add some salt and pepper for seasoning and about 2 teaspoon of olive oil into it. 

Your tomato-garlic is ready to be served.

Finally the plating: Place the fish and the tomato-garlic dip along with grilled vegeta-

bles in a skewer and this can be served with variety of bread and a glass of good wine could make this grilled fish perfect to surprise your mom and show your culinary skills.

We have often heard of alcoholic beverages and going out to a pub or a club and buying yourself and your friends a drink unquestionably will leave a huge hole in your pocket. So how about making ‘Whiskey Ice Tea’ for family and friends this IPL season and enjoy cricket in style?

The Making of

WHISKEY ICE TEA (very simple and hassle free)1. In a mixer, take about 3 tablespoon of good whiskey and about a cup of ice tea (here I have used the Lipton ice tea packet, (readily available in

the markets). 2. Mix both of them thoroughly shaking the mixer. In a tall glass, fill half of it with ice cubes and slowly pour the ice tea-whiskey mixture into it.

Now garnish with some crushed fresh basil leaves  (or mint leaves too) and a few lemon wedges.

Your refreshing drink is all ready to be sipped over a few crunchy snacks. 

HAPPY COOKING AND HAPPY EATING.

sanjuKTa das | fOOd EnThusIasT

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 201418

G-Talk

PoINT CouNTErPoINT

In Assam, especially in the tribal areas like BTAD, Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong and many more,

most of the killings and the violent incidents have been perpetrated ei-ther by the extremists or the political elements. In the recent BTAD vio-lence, we can consider both the an-gles. I am looking at the problem in a very serious way as only a proper in-quiry without the involvement of po-litical elements, can expose the truth.

There are many angles to these recent killings and one of the major perspectives, which can be brought into play, is the political conspiracy by the political elements to disturb the peaceful BTAD arrangements.

I have been a witness to violence since the 1960s and this has been going on in Assam until now. In the violence

that has happened in the state during 2008, 2012 and now in 2014, the clashes have always taken place between the Bo-dos and some minorities of the state.

The government announced a CBI enquiry when the clash spurted in 2008 in Udalguri, the report of which has not been published until now. From the government’s action in handling the violence, it is clear that a section of the people have been made scapegoats of political power games where innocent lives have been lost including women and children. It does not matter which religion or which caste they belong to, what matters is that innocent lives have been lost and this proves the killing of humanity.

The situation has gone to such an extent that some political parties and minority organisations have tried to spread the clash to other parts of the country. Everybody should be aware of the fact that what is happening in Assam is not a riot but an act of mass killing and this is happening with the patronage of political parties.

I do not know who is involved in the violence. The enquiry report will bring it to the fore. But the inner party clash-es going on inside the Congress party might be a reason to be believed behind the recent violence that occurred in the BTAD, situated in the western part of Assam. Everybody seems to be after the CM’s chair and the people involved in the conspiracy have been successful in destabilising the government.

The comments that were made by Pramila Rani Brahma of BPF before the violence in BTAD and other politicians like Siddique Ahmed of Congress after the violence are very unfortunate. The duty and responsibility of an MLA is to think about his or her constituency, participate in discussions on the floor

Is the btad violence a tactic to destabilise government?

PRAMOD BOROPresident, ABSU

AjOY DuTTA Social activist and ex MLA

There is space to think that it may be a desperate policy of the politicians to totally destroy the BTAD setup.

I don’t think I can exemplify the truth and comment that it is a strat-egy to destabilise the government, but there is a chance that it is a conspiracy to remove the Gogoi government. But more than that, I feel it is a major con-spiracy to disturb the Bodoland move-ment. People already know that there is a Pillai Committee, which is working on the proposal to find the options of making a separate Bodoland state, so, there might be a conspiracy to disturb the movement of the separate state.

We condemn all kinds of killings and violence, which happened recently and demand that the guilty should be arrested and punished. We condemn the government for not being able to protect the lives of the innocent citi-zens.

Consequently, there might be an-other angle to the entire situation - the possibility that the extremists might be doing this to make their presence felt. We have been demanding to the gov-ernment since a long time to resolve the extremists issue. The rebels have been pressing their demands since the last thirty years and the government has not been able to find a solution to that.

Therefore, if the violence this time too, is the act of the extremists, then again the government is to be blamed as they have failed to address the is-sue for a long time now. All the tribal areas in Assam have extremist prob-lems and the government should have been able to resolve the problem until now. The authorities have always taken things easily and they only pretend to act when there is an incident. For their negligence, many innocent citizens keep losing their lives. Many families are suffering and it is only because the authorities have not come to a solution.

of assembly. However, instead of doing that, some of the politicians including the one from Barak valley (Siddique Ahmed) have been seen trying to woo the victims of the BTAD clash; partic-ularly those belonging to the Muslim community.

They are just trying to establish their own identities. The politicians are playing a dangerous game of capturing power by keeping the gun on the sol-diers of innocent and poor people. It is very sad that politicians are indulging in politics on the dead bodies of inno-cent people. The dead have no religion and as a conscious citizen of this coun-try, we condemn such activities.

The very concept of Bodo, non-Bodo, Rabha etc is very bad and this should not corrupt the minds of the people of Assam. From the line of in-cidents happening in Assam, it can be stated that a section of the politicians are taking violence as a means to de-stroy peace and integration of the state.

Everybody seems to be after

the CM’s chair and the people

involved in the conspiracy

have been successful in

destabilising the government”

“Consequently, there might be another angle to the entire situation - the possibility that the extremists might be doing this to make their presence felt. We have been demanding to the government since a long time to resolve the extremists issue.

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 19

Events

Next7daYs

WANT YOuR EvENT TO BE fEATuRED ON ThIs PAGE? just mail us at info@g-plus.in

DATE vENuE EvENT

9th May IIT Guwahati Last Defence

10th May State Art Gallery Aakriti – A visual art cum photography exhibition

10th May Terra Mayaa DJ Caro

11th May Rani Reserve Forest DCP Weekend Photo Walk

11th May Shankardev Kalakshetra 4th Wonder Kids’2014

11th May Ozone Fire and Ice

15th May Trinant Dance Academy, AT Road Janet Reed’s special contemporary class

ESPLENDIDEZ 2014

SummEr GLASSES PArTy

Date: 2nd - 4th May, Venue: RIST Campus, 9 Mile

Date: 4th May, Venue: Club Ozone

DJ Varun with a party goer

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 201420

Web Watch

rovio launches Flappy Bird

inspired game ‘retry’

Rovio has soft launched a clone of the popular ‘Flappy Bird’ game called ‘Retry’ in Canada,

Finland and Poland. Retry is avail-able for iOS from the country specific Apple app store. No information is available about whether the game will be launched for Android or if it will also be launched globally.

Retry is similar to the addic-tive game ‘Flappy Bird’, it has a high level of difficulty and keeps urging the user to ‘Retry’. The game features side-scrolling navigation of a flying object through a series of vertical ob-stacles as Flappy Bird, in an 8-bit de-sign style. The new game comes from Rovio’s new LVL11 division.

“From the guys sitting in the room next to the guys who made Angry Birds, comes Retry – a game so hard, so addictive, so old school that you’ll think you’ve stepped into an 8-bit time machine and gone back

to 1986. Totally rad!” the game’s de-scription reads.

The game requires players to tap on the screen to control the plane’s altitude. However, users can also control how fast the plane flies, make it move backwards and forwards to collect coins, land it at bases, and can unlock checkpoints at bases with the coins.

It is yet to be seen if Rovio also in-tegrates the global leader board that contributed to Flappy Bird’s success. Flappy Bird was taken down by its developer for being too addictive af-ter a few days of its launch. After that numerous Flappy Bird clones popped up on Google Play Store as well as the Apple app store. Do you think Flap-py Bird’s formula plus Rovio’s own tweaks are sufficient enough to make the game a bestseller? Let us know your views in the comments section below.

With Internet coverage rapidly expanding across the globe, espe-

cially in the developing nations, the world is set to have about 3 billion netizens (Internet users) by end of this year.

The report further says 44% of the global households will have internet access by end of 2014. About 31 percent of households in developing nations will be having internet access. The figures shoots up to 78 percent in developed countries. The ICT report further points out households internet ac-cess in reaching a saturation level in developed countries.

For mobile cellular subscrip-tions, the number is expected to hit 7 billion by 2014-end, while 3.6 billion will be in the Asia-Pa-cific region. Developing nations are expected to account about 78% of the world’s total.

According to the report, one-fifth of population in Africa will have access to the Internet, while two-thirds of population in Americas will have the access by end of this year. Europe has the highest internet penetration rate of 75%, while the Asia-Pacific re-gion has the largest population of internet users.

3 billion people to be online by end of 2014: uN report

Facebook reveals anonymous app login

Facebook CEO Mark Zucker-berg has revealed that in the future FB users will be able to

log in to third party apps anony-mously using their Facebook login. He also launched a mobile ad net-work, branded the ‘Facebook Audi-ence Network’, that will help brands serve ads on third-party apps using user data collected by Facebook. Both announcements were made at Facebook’s F8 conference which took place after a two year gap in San Francisco, early today morning.

With respect to anonymous login, Zuckerberg explained that many users did not feel comfortable sharing their details with an app that allowed Facebook login, without trying the app first. By selecting the “Log In Anonymously” option, us-ers will now be able to log in to apps and services and ascertain whether the app is worth using and if it can be trusted with their details. If users are afraid that logging into a certain app will result in their friends being spammed with requests, then they can opt for the anonymous login.

Doing so will ensure that the app de-velopers do not get to see your iden-tity or details and will only be able to do so once you choose to sign in to the app in a regular manner. Zuck-erberg revealed that the anonymous login option was being tested out by a few developers (like Flipboard) and that it would be opened up to other developers in the future.

Another announcement that highlights Facebook’s attempts at improving user privacy also dealt with app logins. The social net-work will now allow users to see and control all data that an app re-quires when you’re logging in. The new login screen will allow users to uncheck any part of their data they don’t want the app to receive before actually logging in. The granularity of this means that users can (as an example) choose to let an app see their likes and email address but not their friends list and birthday. Users will also get a newly designed app control panel that gives them a better view of the apps they use and control their permissions.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has started an exper-

iment called High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) which shows the station’s view of our planet via an internet stream. The project has been developed and run by NASA together with some high school stu-dents. The students have helped with the design of some of the HDEV components through the High School United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) program. The experiment includes both multiple 720p camera feeds and the ISS crew’s radio chatter.

The stream from HDEV is not stable and occasionally loses con-tact. The project includes testing the quality of Earth-facing cameras as well as their ability to survive high

doses of radiation while in orbit. The project is supposed to run till Octo-ber 2015 and NASA will use the re-sults from the experiment to decide what cameras to use on future mis-sions.

The HDEV experiment was aboard the ISS and was activated on April 30, 2014. It is mounted on the External Payload Facility of the European Space Agency’s Columbus module. It includes several com-mercial HD video cameras aimed at Earth which are enclosed in a pres-surized and temperature controlled housing. Video from these cam-eras is transmitted back to Earth streamed live on the channel below. If you don’t see anything, it is most likely that space station is hover-ing over the dark side of the planet Earth.

The medium may be “dead” when it comes to daily consumer stor-age tech, Sony has gone ahead

and developed a new way of revitalizing the magnetic tape technology.

Sony presented the new cassette tape format at International Magnetics Conference (Intermag) in Europe last week. The tape comes with much more storage capacity than the tapes we once knew. It is capable of holding 148GB per square inch which is a new record holder for the highest storage density in the magnetic tape medium. Magnetic tapes have been the most preferred way of backing up large amounts of data since the 90s.

Even though, hard drives have re-placed magnetic tape as the preferred way of storage for consumers. But the reality is that the magnetic tapes are still used by companies for mass data backup.

In this section we dig the whole internet to show you rare yet useful sites that are worth visiting.

www.Feedient.com – Feedient connects seamlessly with Twitter, Fa-cebook, Instagram and your YouTube subscriptions. you dont need to refresh or click on an update button – it will automatically send you the new posts as they arrive. The universal notification center gathers all the notifications for your accounts in one single place.

www.SleepSoundsHQ.com – Instantly relax , and fall asleep in minutes with over 500 soothing sounds from around the world.. Sleep-Sounds HQ gives you immediate access to a massive catalog of high-quality, naturally recorded sounds.

www.HabitList.com – It includes everything you need to reach your goals, wrapped in a beautiful and intuitive interface. It motivates you, helps you stay focused, and keeps you on track.

www.FitsMeapp.com – Create flexible meal plans. To start, create a food personality profile to show your preferences. Using your profile, dis-cover recipes for foods you like. As you discover recipes, you can “Forks Up” or “Forks Down” each one. Over time, it’ll learn about what you en-joy most.

www.Tackk.com – MAke quick and easy webpages for free using tackk. The template is already prepared and ready. All you need to do is enter the text, the colors, and the images.

Know The Web BetterWatch live video stream of EarthSony recreates cassette tape

Indrajeet Bhuyan is a 16 year old tech blogger and security researcher. He is passionate about computers and believes in shar-ing knowledge and information . He uses his spare time helping people and companies secure themselves. fb.me/indrajeet.bhuyan

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 21

Reviews

Director: Janaki VishwanathanCast: Anshuman Jha, Asif Basra, Suruchi Aulakh, Yaushika Varma

Director: Janaki VishwanathanCast: Vijay Raaz, Manu Rishi, Raj Zutshi, Vishwajeet Pradhan

Yeh hai Bakrapur Koyelanchal hawa hawai Abhadra

(Assamese) 2 states Amazing spiderman 2 Manjunath

Apsara Cinema

Daily at 8 PM

Daily at 11Am and 5 PM

Daily at 2PM (H-2D)

Anuradha Cineplex

Daily at 2 & 8 PM

Daily at 11AM & 5 PM (H-3D)

fun Cinemas Daily at 10.15 AM & 3.15 PM

Daily at 8.30 PM

Daily at 12.30 PM &

5.30 PM

Gold Cinema (fancy Bazar)

Daily at 11.30 AM

Daily at 2 PM

Daily at 2.30 PM

Daily at 5.30 PM

Daily at 11AM, 5 & 8 PM

Gold Cinema (Paltan Bazar)

Daily at 8.30 PM

Daily at 2 PM

Daily at 2.30 PM

Daily at 5.30 PM

Daily at 11AM, 5&

8 PM

Daily at 11.30 AM

Gold Cinema (Narengi)

Daily at 8 PM Daily at 5 PM Daily at 2

PMDaily at 11 AM

SHINE oN

THE aCCIdENTaL PrIME MINISTEr

YouSHouLd

LISTEN

YouSHouLd

rEad

Residing in a distant village, the Qureshi family struggles to make ends meet. Hounded by

debt collectors, they decide to sell off their pet goat ‘Shahrukh’ as the last resort. However, the goat means the world to the little boy in the family. Shahrukh is after all his best friend and constant companion. Helpless and heartbroken, he finds solace in cool city barber Jaffer’s (Anshuman Jha) clever solution to his dilemma.

Their idea turns things around for the Qureshis and the goat, who ends up becoming an overnight sen-sation. But then begins the politics of religion, horrors of blind faith and lust for money.

Janaki Vishwanathan’s concept that highlights the little ironies of life and fickleness of human nature is a sure-shot winner. The slice-of-life tale is convincing and thus believ-able. The village has been beautifully captured on camera and the actors’ genuine performances lend authen-ticity to the setting. Anshuman Jha

in particular is impressive. Suruchi Aulakh stands out too but the ac-tress is a tad too theatrical and high-pitched for cinema. Overall, the film works for its quirky premise.

However, while one expects Janaki to make the most of ‘Shah-rukh’ (pun intended), that track holds no relevance to the story at all. Any name could have sufficed. Also, after delving into issues like religion and superstition, the director plays it safe by offering no conclusion or take on either. This dilutes the mo-tive and makes the story seem half-baked.

Editing is a major flaw. A few scenes end abruptly while the rest go on forever, making you wonder if the director forgot to say ‘cut’. A slow build-up and a comparatively hur-ried climax are spoilers too. Even the dialogues are not as funny as they should ideally be.

To sum it up, the film is as unique as superstar Shah Rukh Khan, but it lacks his charisma.

Shine On captures Sarah McLa-chlan at a period of transition, switching labels (she’s signed

with Verve after decades at Arista) and experiencing the death of her fa-ther and divorce from her husband. Some of this turbulence can be heard underneath the surface of Shine On -- explicitly so on “Song for My Fa-ther” and “Broken Heart,” whose ti-tles give their game away -- but the defining characteristic of this sev-enth McLachlan studio album is not despair but rather hope. Certainly,

there is melancholy here -- a feeling that surfaces in the slower, gentler moments, the kind of sound that is heavily associated with McLachlan’s mid-’90s hits -- but there’s also a surprising, resilient buoyancy here, manifesting itself in big, ringing adult alternative pop tunes that pep-per the album. Surrounding these songs -- the best of which are “In Your Shoes” and “Monsters” -- are those signature McLachlan swoons, the surprisingly soulful “Love Beside Me” and an effective, swinging coda

called “The Sound That Love Makes” that’s built on a simple ukulele but soon expands. Shine On, as a whole, has a similar trajectory; it starts from simple, sad emotions, then builds out into an embrace of love and life.

Artist: Sarah McLachlan

Author: Sanjaya Baru

Kya Dilli? Kya Lahore? Kya ‘baat’! Yes, battle-banter over cross-border firing and a bom-

bardment of dialogues forms the crux of this film, set at a time (1948) when the border lines between India and Pa-kistan reeked of fresh blood. In today’s context, those very boundaries have dulled, the battle-lines have hardened and the banter has changed. To a more contemporary barrage of dialogues. ‘KDKL’ deals out languid laughter and a dark humour-in-uniform. Yet, all of it stems from scarred memories and open wounds of partition that’ve

painfully throbbed over generations.Narrated and presented by maes-

tro writer/lyricist Gulzar, the story unfolds when a Pakistani soldier, Re-hmat (Raaz); born in Delhi and now ‘displaced’ in newly-formed Pakistan, is confronted by an Indian soldier, Samarth (Rishi), who’s grown up in Lahore, now migrated to Delhi. The sa-tirical conversations, candour, ‘cross-ness’, form a large part of the dialogue between two lost souls. What starts as a spiteful fury of words, punctuated with blood and bullets, warms up into a heart-rending tale. And somewhere,

the inbred bhaichara and binding nos-talgia ties the two uprooted souls like an undeniable umbilical cord.

Debutant director Vijay Raaz’s story stays firmly focused on his two subjects (Rehmat, Samarth), in the same location throughout; with brief inclusion of only two other characters. The plot, (reminiscent of Oscar-win-ning Bosnian film, ‘No Man’s Land’), is a rare attempt in Indian cinema. The essence of the story rests in its dialogues (Manu Rishi) - like rich, evocative poetry - which carries the emotional weight of the film. In that

also lies the problem, the shuddh Ur-du-Punjabi-Hindi is often difficult to grasp amidst raging emotions. Hence, it might not appeal to all. Also, the film feels a tad long. Performances by Raaz and Rishi are brilliant and the background score (Sandesh Shand-ilya) adds tear-jerking heaviness.

One of the finest things about ‘KDKL’ is Gulzar’s poetic prologue. Without the usual trappings of filmi fanfare, this story has its heart in the right place - pure and undivided. Like pre-partition brotherhood.

Kya dilli Kya Lahore

The Accidental Prime Min-ister is Baru’s account of what it was like to ‘manage’

public opinion for Singh while giving us a riveting look at Indian politics as it happened behind the scenes. As Singh’s spin doctor and trusted aide for four years, Baru observed up close Singh’s often troubled relations with his ministers, his cautious equation with Sonia Gandhi and how he handled the big crises from man-

aging the Left to pushing through the nuclear deal. In this book he tells all and draws for the first time a revelatory picture of what it was like for Singh to work in a government that had two centres of power.

Insightful, acute and packed with political gossip, The Acci-dental Prime Minister is one of the great insider accounts of Indi-an political life and a superb por-trait of the Manmohan Singh era.

NOW SHOWING

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 201422

SUDOKU

Fun

Solu

tions

(Last

Issu

e)

ARIEs You’re not thinking about this

the right way. At the start of the week, rather than viewing the situation from your perspective, consider how the other person sees things. A few con-fusing pieces of the puzzle will sud-denly lock into place. If Wednesday and Thursday are a bit slower than you’d like, well, don’t let your ambitions get the best of you. Aggressiveness is great,butyouwon’tmakesignificantprogress until Friday. The good news is that the strides will last through the weekend, when you’ll be charting new terrain. People will discuss building statues in your honor. On Sunday, be the early bird.

TAuRus Not a lot has changed. The

only thing that separates Monday and Tuesday from last week is your attitude. But oh, what a difference that makes! Even the most boring aspects of your job seem like high adventure. Wednesday is super-weird, both from an emotional and a monetary perspective, and the weirdness takes on more weight and dimension on Thursday. Friday? Friday’s a party. Friday is the day when your so-cial prowess comes to the fore and you oozecharm.SaturdayandSundayfindyou in a philosophical mode, challeng-ing your assumptions and asking good questions.

GEMINI You may feel overwhelmed at

the start of the week. You have a lot on your plate. Giving a small project to someone else could not only free up your energy for other tasks, but it could also communicate a certain level of trust in this other person’s skills. If they take the assignment as a compliment, everyone wins. Wednesday and Thurs-day are more about strategic moves than tactical ones — you’re thinking rather than doing — but Friday you’re a go-getter. You’re a deal maker, a ringleader, a star. Saturday and Sun-day, to get what you want, use tact. Be circumspect. Preaching only makes things tense.

CANCER The truth is, Monday and Tues-

day won’t be the smoothest days you’ve ever encountered. You’ll have some hills ahead of you, and for every up, there’s a commensurate down. The best you can do is throw your energy into the projects at hand. Wednesday and Thursday won’t be the right days for signing paperwork — as a matter of fact, they won’t be right for commit-ting to anything binding. On Friday, as much as you think you’d like to kick up your heels, you’ll be happier taking off your shoes and resting on a pile of pillows. Play some music. Forget your obligations this weekend. Daydream.

LEO You’re tidy in all things at the

start of the week. You’re careful to make sure your new purchases are carefully unwrapped. You like your friends to agree with you, but don’t be afraid to spill your guts a little. Let your thoughts be in disarray. You feel good, and that feeling is going to last even through Wednesday, when you sus-pect that someone has impure motives. Thursday is admittedly a self-centered day, and on Friday and Saturday, an explosion of romance alters your emotional landscape. Whether it’s a temporary or permanent change is unclear. On Sunday, just enjoy the ex-perience.

vIRGO Life is a swimming pool on Mon-

day. Jump in. Make a lot of waves. Splash around. This feeling of immer-sion is utterly joyful. You may be so caught up in the fun of it that on Tues-day you buy something on impulse, something you don’t really need. But it’s the spirit of the acquisition that counts. On Wednesday and Thursday, your intellectual curiosity leads you to an un-expected place, or at the very least it leads to someone confessing a loaded secret. Friday brings more revelations. You have big plans for the weekend, but almost none of them are possible, what with your family obligations.

LIBRA Could Monday and Tuesday be

any better? It’s unlikely. First of all, love is in the air. It’s in every step you take — you have a lift, a bounce, magic. Flirting figuresstrongly,andbeautyabounds.The attention you receive from others isflattering,butit’salmosttoomuchtohandle.Youmayevenfindyourselfturn-ing inward on Wednesday or Thursday — or at least turning toward serious projects,suchasafinancialone—asameansofdeflection.Rarelyhaveyoufelt as idealistic as you do on Friday, and the more you discuss your ideas this weekend, the more inspired you feel.

sCORPIO You’re weighing your options.

If you sometimes have trouble making decisions, Monday and Tuesday you’re flat-outunable.Givingintosomeoneelse is the best thing to do, even if that involves admitting a small amount of defeat. Don’t fret about how it may reflect on you, becauseWednesdayand Thursday you’re surrounded by a kind of magic halo and no one sees you inanythingexceptthemostflatteringlight. On Friday, or sometime this week-end, let a friend take you somewhere, whether it’s to the mall or on a road trip. Whatever the plan is, say yes.

sAGITTARIus It’s okay that you’re not on the

samepYoufindyourselfinlargegath-erings on Monday and Tuesday. You’re loved by the people you work with, and the people you socialize with and even people you barely know. Others are taking their cues from you, which gives you a unique social power. Use it toward the greater good. On Wednes-day and Thursday, your mental energy is spent on trying to assemble the big picture, which is a task perhaps best done alone, with classical music in the background. On Friday, friendship and joviality are once again the order of the day. Your incredible confidencepropels Saturday and Sunday.

CAPRICORN You have almost no time to ask for

anything on Monday and Tuesday, what with all that everyone else is asking of you. You love to be needed, but too much work is simply too much work. If you’d like help, holler. On Wednesday, a trusted pal comes to the rescue. Thursday is a fine day to make a decision — trust your instincts, cross your fingers — and Friday the fates conspire to leave you feeling optimistic, idealistic and happy. Saturday and Sunday, your big plans may not seem plausible (for this or that small reason), but anything is possible. Keep going.

AQuARIus The person you connect with most

deeply on Monday isn’t whom you expect it to be. Chemistry is a funny thing. On Tuesday, deepen this newfound friend-ship by confessing something personal, and see what kind of response you get. Wednesday and Thursday aren’t very noteworthy in the social realm because of pressing work matters — matters that may start to take their toll on you emotion-ally. That, in turn, may affect your social life. Everything is interrelated. Friday finds you taking an organizational role among your friends. Maybe there’s a party at your place this weekend?

PIsCEs The challenge that faces you at

the start of the week is particularly tricky, because it involves someone who’s been at your side when you’ve dealt with chal-lenges before. Somehow this person has become the challenge. Partnerships can be mercurial. Stand your ground. Insist on getting what’s owed to you. But, if pos-sible, don’t make it personal. Wednesday and Thursday find you taking a stand with others as well — and, again, the more you keep it on the up-and-up, the easier it is. Whatever happens, give people the benefit of the doubt on Friday and through the weekend. Luck is on your side.

JUST FOR LAUGHS

YOUR WEEKLY DOSE OF TIMEPASSHOROSCOPE

A pious man, who had reached the age of 105, suddenly stopped going to synagogue. Alarmed by the old fellow’s ab-sence after so many years of faithful attendance, the Rabbi went to see him.He found him in excellent health, so the Rabbi asked, “How come after all these years we don’t see you at services

anymore?”The old man lowered his voice, “I’ll tell you, Rabbi,” he whispered. “When I got to be 90, I expected God to take me any day. But then I got to be 95, then 100, then 105. So, I figured that God is very busy and must’ve forgotten about me, and I don’t want to remind Him!”

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 2014 23

Citypedia

G Plus will keep on publishing such relevant and useful information in this page in the coming issues.

Compiled by Mautapa Dhar

EmErGENCy NumBErSAMBULANCE

Ambulance 102Arya Hospital, Ulubari 2606888, 2606665

Downtown Hospital 9864101111, 9435012669GLP Social Circle 2737373

GGUMTA (Mirza) 03623-227109Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251

BLOOD BANKArya Hospital, Ulubari 2606888, 2606665

Ganga Blood Bank 2454742, 2455029Lion’s Club of Ghy Central 2546611

Marwari Yuva Manch 2546470, 2547251Saharia’s Path Lab (24 hours) 2458594

24-HOUR PHARMACIESArya Hospital, Ulubari (2606888, 2606665)

DEAD BODY CARRYING VANGLP Social Circle 2737373, 9435047046Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251GGUMTA 98640-16740

RADIO TAXI SERVICESPrime Cabs

0361- 2222233Green Cabs

0361-7151515My Taxi

0361-2228888Cherry Cabs8876222288

OTHERSFire Emergency 101State Zoo 2201363

GMC Carcass Pickup 9435190720, 9864047222

LPG Emergency/Leakage 2385209, 2541118

CINEMA HALLAnuradha Cineplex – 0361-2656968, 99545-44738

Fun Cinema (HUB)- 98648-00100, 98648-00200 Gold Cinema (Paltan Bazaar) – 98540-66166

Gold Cinema (Salasar) – 0361-2735367, 98540-77177Gold Cinema (Narengi) – 88110-01898

SP, Kamrup District: Ph- 2540278DGP Control Room: Ph- 2540242SB Control Room: Ph-2261511Police Control Room: Ph-2540138, 2540113Azara PS: Ph2840287Basista PS: Ph-2302158Bharalumukh PS: Ph- 2540137, 2731199Borjhar PS: Ph-2840351Chandmari PS: Ph- 2660204Chandrapur PS: Ph-2788237, 2785237Dispur PS: Ph-2261510Fancybazar PS: Ph- 2540285

Fatasil Ambari PS: Ph-2471412Geetanagar PS: Ph-2417323Hatigaon: Ph-2562383Jalukbari PS: Ph-2570587Jalukbari Out Post: Ph-2570522Jorabat: Ph-2896853Khanapara: Ph- 2281501Khetri PS: Ph-2787699, 2787220Latasil PS: Ph-2540136Noonmati PS: Ph- 2550281North Guwahati PS: Ph-2690255Paltanbazar PS: Ph-2540126Panbazar PS: Ph-2540106Pragjyotishpur Ps: Ph-2785237Women PS Panbazar: Ph-2524627

ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

Call Centre – 9678005171

Arya Hospital, Ulubari(2606888, 2606665)B Baruah Cancer Institute(2472364/66)Brahmaputra Hospital Ltd(2451634/678)Chatribari Christian Hospital0361-2600051, 92070-44374Downtown Hospital2331003, 9864079366, 9435012669Guwahati Medical College(2529457, 2529561)Guwahati Medical CollegeEmergency (2263444)

Furniture storeRishab industRies

Nr Railway Gate No 8, K R B Rd, Bharalumukh,

Ghy-9, Ph- 9435101433, 9435044395

Manish FuRnituRe Palace Meermukid Manzil, S.A

Road, Kumarpara, Ghy-8 Ph- 8876510341

shRee MaRuti FuRnituReold post office, Nr Axis Bank, G S Road, Ghy-5

Ph- 9864063505, 9864014123

ZuaRi Quality FuRnituReOpp Bata, Nr Bharalu

Culvert, Bhangagarh, Ghy-18 Ph- 9435043610

GhaR- M n Road, Pan Bazar, Ghy-1

Ph- 0361-2517424

the suPReMe Industries Limited

Chatribari Ph- 8876561102

JaJodia FuRnituRe solutionDandi Tower, Dispur, G S

Road, Assam Sachivalaya, Ghy-6, Ph- 9864092932

style sPa WoRld FuRnituRe Ltd- Christian Basti, G S

Road, Guwahati Gpo, Ghy-1 Ph- 9864307207

Vinayak hoMeUlubari, G S Road,

Lachit Nagar, Ghy-7 Ph- 9085078731

neW nitu FuRnituReOpp Sonaram High School, A T Road, Santipur, Ghy-9

Ph- 9864063134

steel & styleRoyal View,

B K Kakoti, Ulubari, Ghy-7 Ph- 9435559032

PooJa FuRnituReNr Gauhati Commerce Col-

lege, R G Baruah Road, Ghy-3, Ph- 9706354380

the suPReMe industRies ltdEpip Park, Amingaon

Post, Ghy-31 Ph- 9706001947

duRian iMPoRted Furniture- Khanapra, Ghy- 21

Ph-0361-2363213

JaJodia enGineeRinG PVtA T Road, Baralumukh, Ghy-9

Ph- 0361-2544035neW nitu FuRnituRe

Santipur, Ghy-9 Ph- 0361-2515801

yashin FuRnituReF A Road,Kumar Para

Charali, Nr Rly Gate 6, Ghy-9 Ph- 9864407583

Manish FuRnituRe PalaceNr Rail Gate No 6, F A

Road, Guwahati Gpo, Ghy-1 Ph- 8876510341

syan & coMPanyNr. Apsara, Manipuri-

basti, G S Road, Ghy-7 Ph- 9864039644

noRth easteRn enteRPRiseZoo Road, Ghy-5

Ph- 0361-2454565

RaVi FuRnituRePost Office, G S Road, Ghy-5

Ph- 0361-2347328

cane cRaFt & allied industRies

Below Indian Overseas Bank, G S Road, Dispur, Ghy-5

Ph- 9864093172

FuRnituRe FiRstNr Samsung Digital Plaza,

Bhangagarh, G S Road, Ghy-5, Ph- 0361-2464198

PRakash FuRnituReA K Azad Road, Rehabari, Ghy-8

Ph- 9435011514

neW nitu FuRnituReAbove Barman Diabetes

Specialities, Rukiminigaon, Ghy-22, Ph- 9954703492

R l industRial stoReOpp Super Point AC

Market, Nr Uco Bank, H B Road, Fancy Bazar, Ghy-1

Ph-0361-2546358

tRiMuRti enteRPRiaea Taji Commercial Complex, S. J. Rd, Athgaon, Ghy-1

Ph- 0361-2633414

silVeR steelSamta Bhawan Mrkt, Nr Rail Gate No.5, A T Raod, Ghy-9

Ph- 9435040754

laVish FuRnituReOpp Sonaram Field, A T

Road, Bharalumukh, Ghy-9 Ph- 8486024012

PRakash industRiesFakaruddin Ali Ahmed Build-

ing, S S Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy-1, Ph- 9864521000

Global MaRketinG GRouP Bawri Building, Kamrup

Chamber Rd, Fancy Bazar, Ghy-1, Ph- 0361-2542156

shikha FuRnituReLAL Ganesh,

Odalbakra, Ghy-34 Ph- 9864406958

GhaR FuRnituReOdalbakra Road, Ghy-34

Ph- 9859116440

Menu udyoG Santipur, A T Road,

Ghy-9Ph- 8811047887

International Hospital0361-7135005Mahendra Mohan Choud-hury Hospital(2541477, 2543998)Marwari Hospital & Re-search Centre0361-2602738/39Marwari Maternity Hospi-tal 0361-2541202/01Nemcare Hospital0361-2528587, 2455906, 2457344

HOSPITALS Pratiksha Hospital0361-2337260, 2337183/84Basistha Military Hospital (2304617/0351)Railway Central HospitalCasuality (2671025)Redcross Hospital(2665114)Sri Sankardeva Netralaya0361-2233444, 2228879, 2228921TB Hospital(2540193)Wintrobe Hospital0361-2519860,98647-77986

POLICE STATION

GNRC Hospital 0361 2331003, , 9864079366GNRC Life First Ambulance 9435012669

G PLUS MAY 10 - MAY 16, 201424

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Kamur of the weekWhat did i just hear?

Catching Up

Scientists discover ‘weird trick’ used to build pyramids

WHo’S SHEHayden Leslie Panettiere is an Ameri-

can actress, model, singer, voice actress, and activist. She is known for her roles

as cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC series Heroes (2006–10) and as

Juliette Barnes in the ABC musical drama series Nashville.

So WHaTIn November 2007, she was awarded

the “Compassion in Action Award” from the animal rights group PETA for

her efforts to stop the dolphin hunt in Japan. At a 2007 Greenpeace event in

Anchorage, Alaska, Panettiere defended aboriginal whaling, saying that there

is a difference between commercial whaling and the whaling practiced by aboriginal tribes in the United States.

NoW WHaTHayden Panettiere’s wedding plans are

currently on hold. Panettiere opened up about planning her nuptials and

revealed things have stalled due to the crisis in Eastern Europe.”Everything

that’s happening in Ukraine definitely put a hold on things,” the 24-year-old

“Nashville” star told. A group of physicists say that they’ve uncovered that “one weird trick”

that helped ancient engineers drag the huge stones across the desert. The magic ingredient? A little water. Researchers from the University

of Amsterdam and the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Mat-ter found that by wetting the ground in front of their sledges, ancient

Egyptians would have been able to pull large blocks of stones and stat-ues across the desert without the sand piling up in front of the vehicle.

Time to rejoice but pray too as The Nether-lands-based non-profit organisation Mars One has shortlisted 44 Indians – including 17 women – among 705 aspirants for its planned one-way trip to Mars in 2024. The shortlisted astronaut candidates now advance to an inter-view round with Mars One’s selection com-mittee. The organisation aims to establish a

Red Planet settlement beginning in 2025.

Peruvian man survives 5,000-foot fall and doesn’t even break a bone after parachute mis-hap. Amasifuen Gamarra, 31, was surprisingly unscathed from the mile-high mishap after the lines from the parachute wrapped around his neck when he leaped from a military plane above Arequipa, in southern Peru. Gamarra, an eight-year veteran of the air force, was transferred to a

military hospital for additional testing.

Guwahati roads. A brief spell of downpour for an hour inundates the entire city. Traffic chaos was already a major problem for the commuters used to face, and a recent downpour for few days has made the city roads even more pathetic to ply on. All tall claims of de-siltation and drain cleaning exercises by the authorities are somehow washed away by the initial rain of the season.

Helena Costa became the first ever female manager in men’s profes-

sional football after taking over the reins at French Ligue 2 club Cler-

mont Foot. Costa, who is 36-years-old and Portuguese, started her

coaching career at Benfica and has most recently been in charge of

both the Qatar and Iran women’s national sides. She was appointed

by Clermont and will take over sole charge of first-team affairs at

the club from next season*

WHo’S HEThomas Baptiste Morello is an American guitarist best known for his tenure with the band Rage Against the Machine and then with

Audioslave. His acoustic solo act is called The Nightwatchman, and his latest group Street Sweeper Social Club.

So WHaTHe is best known for his unique and creative guitar playing style, which incorporates feedback noise, unconventional picking and

tapping as well as heavy use of guitar effects. Morello is also noted for his leftist political views and activism; his creation of his side project The Nightwatchman offered an outlet for his views while

playing a political music with Audioslave. He was ranked number 40 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists

of All Time”.

NoW WHaTMorello and Serj Tankian of System of a Down are the co-found-ers of Axis of Justice, a political group whose declared purpose is

“to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grass roots politi-cal organizations to fight for social justice together.” They “aim to build a bridge between fans of music around the world and local

political organizations to effectively organize around issues of peace, human rights, and economic justice.” The group has been working for such causes as immigrant rights and death-penalty

abolition.

Headlining acts!

Hayden Panettiere

Tom Morello

Scientists have created the first “semi-synthetic” micro-organism with a radically different genetic code from the rest of life on Earth. The researchers believe the breakthrough is the first step towards creating new microbial life-forms with novel industrial or medical properties resulting from a potentially massive expansion of genetic information.

New Life

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Costa becomes European football’s first female professional team manager

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