Baroda Diary

Vinod Shah At Sarjan: Painter Vinod Shah's exhibition of paintings will be held at Sarjan Art Gallery from December 28 to January 9, 12 noon to 8 p.m. Shah studied and taught at MS University's Faculty of Fine Arts. He retired a few years back.

Planet M At Baroda: Baroda is now the 22nd Indian city – and the first in Gujarat – where Planet M has opened shop for the young music fan. It has three listening posts and a 'M Stage' for live performances. Spread over 800 sq ft in the TNW premises on Old Padra Road, the shop has 3,000 music and 1,800 VCD/DVD titles. The promoters say that Planet M will not only be a music shop but also a hangout for the young.

Export-Import Course: A short-term course on export-import management organised by the Indian Institute of Export is scheduled to begin in January. Classes will be held three days a week. For further information ring up +91-265-2362570.

Saree Exhibition: Eternal Mystique presents an exclusive collection of designer sarees, kurtis, unstitched salwar suits, bags and crochet accessories. December 24-25. At Trisha Gallery.

Coldest Day: Thursday (18th) was the coldest day for Baroda this season. The minimum temperature recorded was 11.8 degrees C. The maximum temperature was 29.8 degrees C.

Harsh Measures For Property Tax Defaulters: Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) is coming down hard property tax defaulters. They are preparing to put in place measures like snapping gas, water and drainage connections, beating drums in the neighbourhoods of defaulters and even the auctioning of the properties. There are presently 5,000 appeals pending before the civic body and these alone can recover Rs. 50 million if settled. Regarding the pending dues, the maximum amount – Rs. 160 million – is from Ward No. 6 and Ward No. 10, which include Sayajigunj and R.C. Dutt Road. It seems that among the defaulters in these areas are many NRIs who have invested in property without giving power of attorney and this makes the recovery of dues more difficult.

Baroda's Civic Infrastructure
The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) recently submitted a white paper on its overall performance to the Gujarat Government. The report gave the status in core areas. Among the highlights:
Water Supply	The system caters to 85 % of the population. The main challenges are to improve supply pressure, control theft, expand the network and improve storage and networking. The funds required are Rs. 2,240 million and the financing options are user charges and loans.
Sewerage	The caters to 65 % of the population. The main challenges are open discharge, enhancing treatment capacity and underutilised sewage treatment plants. The funds required are Rs. 1,300 million and the financing options are loans, NGOs and external agencies.
Roads & Bridges	The roads and bridges cater to 78 % of the population. The main challenges are the construction of flyovers, wall-to-wall carpeting, raised walkways, linking of expressway and four-laning of main roads. The funds required are Rs. 1,080 million and the financing options are surcharge on vehicles, user charges and the ceding of revenue rights.
Storm Water Drainage	The system caters to 54 % of the population. The main challenges are elimination of floating garbage, open drains, monsoon waterlogging and clogging of sewerage. The funds required are Rs. 2,700 million and the financing option is loans.
Solid Waste Management	The infrastructure caters to 90 % of the population. The major challenges are source segregation, door-to-door collection, environment friendly disposal and cent percent collection and transportation. The funds required are Rs. 50 million and the financing options are partnerships, loans and the ceding of revenue rights.

Community Reserve At Wadvana: Gujarat's forest department has recently proposed to turn the picturesque wetland of Wadvana, 50 km from Vadodara, into a community reserve. Wadvana is a massive wetland which is host to 27,000 birds who migrate here for the winter. Some of these birds belong to at least 60 exotic species. As a community reserve the wetland will be protected and also be properly opened for visitors.

Harsiddhi Temple Renovation: On the banks of the Mahi River and about 30 kms from Baroda, near village Akalbara, there is an old temple of goddess Harsiddhi (Vahanvati Mataji). This temple is believed to be more than 250 years old. The old construction was made by lime cement and flat bricks. Hundreds of pilgrims from Baroda and abroad visit this temple every Sunday. With the help of the local gram panchayat, Jagdish Vaghela, Manubhai Padhiyar and Rajendra Thakore from the village have begun renovation of this temple. The new temple will be have a rest room for visitors, 24-hour watersupply and a small garden near the bank of river Mahisagar. The funds for renovation are collected by a committee of local people from village Akalbara and the devotees from Baroda district. If you want any more information about this temple, you may contact Jagdish Vaghela <jm_vaghela@yahoo.com> or call mobile number 9824433755 or, if in USA, ring up 305 591 8200 (Extn. 580).

Gujarati Play: Abhnav Art Academy will stage 'Haila Ramila Pachhi Aavi', a Gujarati play starring Dimple Shah, at Gandhi Nagargruh at 9 p.m. on December 17 and 18.

Petrol & Diesel Cost More: Petrol and diesel prices have increased from 16th December. Petrol prices in Baroda have gone up from Rs. 34.65 to Rs. 35.71 per litre and the diesel prices from Rs. 22.44 to Rs. 23.56.

Laboratory Technology Course: The Ambalal Sarabhai Foundation (ASF) will start a new batch of the Medical Laboratory Technology course from January. Students who have cleared 12th standard with science and science graduates are eligible. For admission contact the ASF office in Bombay Shopping Centre, Race Course Circle, 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Fashion Wear Exhibition: An exhibition of western wear for women has been organised by Bar Code. It includes a range of trendy blouses, trousers, skirts and dresses. December 19-20. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Trisha Gallery.

Handcrafted Crystal: Diamond Crystal has organised an exhibition featuring a complete range of 30 percent handcrafted crystal (in collaboration with Georgian Crystal, Derby, UK). December 22-23. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Trisha Gallery.

Insurance Advisor's Feat: Barodian Mehul Shah has become the first life insurance advisor of a private company in the city to qualify for the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) – an association of nearly 30,000 of the world's best life insurance and finance services professionals from 74 countries. Shah, an investment consultant, achieved the distinction of selling more than 125 policies since the beginning of the year and this put him in the league of high-profile MDRT qualifiers.

Handicrafts & Handloom Exhibition: Sponsored by Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. Organised by Gramin Hastkala Vikas Samiti, Agra. Parsi Agiari Ground, Sayajigunj. 12th to 21st December. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Paintings Exhibition: An exhibition of recent paintings by Amarnath Sharma – 'Altitude of Destination' – will be on from 15th to 26th December (but not on Sunday) at Sarjan Art Gallery. 12 noon to 8 p.m. The exhibition will be closed on Sundays. Sharma is an alumnus of the MSU Faculty of Fine Arts.

VMC May Privatise Atithi Gruhas: The 17 community halls, atithi gruhas and lawns of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) are a financial and administrative burden on the civic body. Hired out to citizens for social functions, these facilities are not particularly viable as things stand. Which is why VMC has decided to consider privatisation of the facilities. A firm of chartered accountants – Shah, Mehta & Bakshi – has made some recommendations on how the privatisation can be done in phases. One of the suggestions is that the facilities should also be made available for sales events, exhibitions, business meetings and training camps so that private operators may be able to earn the profits from which they can properly maintain them. To being with, the community halls at Subhanpura and Akota may be leased out on a three-year basis.

More Convicts, More Jails: The Gujarat government will build three new district jails and increase the capacity of existing jails. The three new district jails are planned for Bhuj, Gandhidham and Gondal. The capacity of Baroda Central Jail and Sabarmati Central Jail will be increased. The entire project, due to be completed by the end of 2008, will cost Rs. 650 million. About 25 % of the expenditure will be borne by the central government. A separate section is planned for women convicts at Sabarmati Central Jail and Rajkot District Jail. Till now, only the Baroda Central Jail has the facilities to accommodate women convicts.

Exhibition Of Kurtis: J&S, a designing and tailoring shop, will exhibit an exclusive collection of kurtis at Trisha Gallery. December 12-13. 10 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.

Palitana Siddhshetra: Hariom Gujjar's exhibition of photographs captures the various aspects of Palitana. Vithi Art Gallery, Karelibaug. Till December 12. 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Polluted Baroda: Over the past months the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) in Baroda has reached an abnormally high level. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB says that the RSPM level in the city is 67 per cent higher than the national average. A major source of RSPM is vehicular emission. The city has recorded an increase of 52,000 vehicles during the last. GPCB statistics show that 680,000 vehicles and major industries surrounding the city belch out 200 tonnes of pollutants every year. About 90 per cent of the vehicles run one petrol account for 64 per cent of the city's pollution and the industries contribute 29 per cent.

Electricity Entrepreneurs: Stalls in three major vegetable markets in Baroda – at Sama, Karelibaug and Ellora Park – are supplied electricity by private 'generator' entrepreneurs. The lights in the stalls are connected to high-powered generator sets kept nearby. Such a facility reduces the vegetable vendors' dependence on lanterns and other light sources. They pay about Rs. 8 to Rs. 10 per day for the service. The supply beings at 6.30 p.m. and is on till 11 p.m. About 300 stalls happily use this facility.

Pratap Theatre: The temporary closure of Pratap Theatre after a complaint by the Entertainment Commissioner for the alleged selling of fake tickets has inconvenienced cinema lovers. The blockbuster film 'Kal Ho Na Ho' is meant to running here, besides Inox Multiplex and Chandan Multiplex. For many people, the theatres are closer to where they live and far less expensive compared to the multiplexes (specially for new releases). The dejected fans can only hope that the theatre will re-open soon.

Book Exhibition: The National Book Trust (NBT) will hold a book exhibition on NBT publications from December 11 to 15 at Manubhai Towers, Sayajigunj. The exhibition will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

MSU Honorary Degrees: The MS University Senate has passed the Syndicate proposed names for the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. The Senate approved the names of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, social reformer Nanaji Deshmukh, scientist R.A. Mashelkar (Director General of Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research) and Gujarati literateur Rajendra Shah.

Jewellery Exhibition: By R's Xclusives. Exhibition-cum-sale of imitation fashion jewellery blending traditional and contemporary style. Trisha Art Gallery. December 5-6. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Handcrafted Furniture: Amiti Bazaar presents an exhibition and sale of handcrafted furniture, dhurries and furnishings. Sienna Art Gallery. December 10-15. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Paintings Exhibition: A group of seven artists Bakulesh Joshi, Shilpa Joshi, Satyendra Tiwari, Manish Mehta, Anuj Kumar Poddar, Hina Poddar, and Mohan Bhoya will exhibit their works at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University. The exhibition is an expression of ideas of people working in different fields. December 10-15. 10.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m.

Battle Against Mosquitoes: A new method of using bacteria called 'bacillus thuringiensis israeliensis (BTI) will soon be used by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) in the battle against the rising cases of malaria and dengue. BTI is a bacterial larvicide that kills immature mosquitoes or 'wigglers' by destroying the internal abdominal organs of the larvae. It is a cost-effective and environmentally safe means of pest control compared to mosquitocides like DDT and malarial oil. It is not harmful to humans, pets or other organisms. It is being sprayed in a few areas of the city as part of a pilot project.

Children's Book Fair: Organised by Maneesh Bookshop. November 28 to December 7, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. At Manubhai Towers Basement, Sayajigunj.

Yoga Seminar: 10, the Health Spa, is organising a seminar on yoga at Prusti, opposite Haridham Society, Manjalpur, from December 1 to 6.

Model Hunt: 'Bodize In Motion – A Model Hunt 2003' will be held at Trimline Club on 29th November. It is being organised by Folio INC – The Finishing I'ecole and Spin Academy. Spin Academy is a dance and fitness academy which organises classes in many cities of Gujarat. The event will have three titles – Mr. 2003, Ms. 2003 and Mrs. 2003. For 'Mrs. 2003' the contestants are as old as 50 years.

BARC Entrusts Project To MSU: The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) have asked MSU to handle a project concerning nuclear safety. MSU's Mechanical Engineering Department has been able to quantifying the physical discrepancies that may arise in a nuclear reactor. Taking a cue from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident where the loss of coolant was the cause, the department is conducting a two-phase study on the depressurisation factors that could affect a nuclear reactor's safety. The MSU team has carried out the first phase of the simulation, generally done on special software using miniature models. The project cost is estimated at Rs. 5 million. The first phase of the simulation model is complete and has cost the department Rs 14.82 lakh.

Students In Primary Schools: The Vadodara district panchayat has launched a drive to determine the actual number of students in 2,000 primary schools. It seems that there have been complaints that the schools were inflating the number of students to ensure postings for teachers in their preferred places. Officials in the panchayat said that the number was being inflated so that the number of jobs for teachers could increase and some teachers who have not been getting postings in the area of their choice could get them.

MSU Project Studies Depression: One out of every four women in Baroda suffers from depression while one out of every ten men is prone to it. This is indicated by a pilot study conducted by the Women's Studies Research Centre (WSRC) of MS University. The two-year research project ('Mental Health & Aging: Focus On Women With Depression') began in August 2003 and the US-based Nirman Foundation is funding it. The study will analyse the prevalence of depression among older women and men. Data from public and private hospitals and clinics in six cities of Gujarat – Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Vadodara, Surat – will be compiled.

British County Invites Business Interests: In the county of Leicestershire in the United Kingdom, 37 languages from different parts of the world can be heard. But Gujarat is the second most spoken language and the county is home to about 75,000 Gujaratis who play a major role in the country's economy and politics. Leicestershire wants to have more trade links with Gujarat and Maharashtra and a high-profile delegation led by the county's Mayor Ramnik Kavia, a person of Indians origin, visited Baroda recently and gave Barodians some idea about the business opportunities there and the advantages of being based in the county. The delegation had been invited by the Federation of Gujarat Industries.

Music On Canvas: Exhibition of recent paintings by Gajendra Shah. Sarjan Art Gallery, November 24 to December 5 (except Sunday). 12 noon to 8 p.m.

Pushpabaug Will Live On: The historically significant but now dilapidated Pushpabaug Bungalow in the Faculty of Fine Arts at MS University has been granted a new lease of life by the University Grants Commission (UGC). A proposal by the faculty for the restoration of the building has been accepted and UGC has sanctioned Rs. 1.8 million for the project. The building was once the residence of the acclaimed novelist R.V. Desai, almost a century ago. The Faculty of Fine Arts was established in it in 1949.

New CNG Stations In City: In order to increase the compressed natural gas (CNG) users from 300 to 3,000 in nine months, the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) will set up four more stations at new sites in Baroda: near GSFC, on Ajwa Road, near HPCL Karelibaug and near BPCL Makarpura. One CNG station already exists in the city at Nizampura. The four new stations should be ready by December 2004. According to GAIL, the output of one kg of CNG is on an average 1,25 times better than a litre of petrol. While a km in a petrol-driven vehicle costs Rs. 2.10, it is only 61 paise in a CNG vehicle. Baroda has a vehicle population of about 647,000. The cost of conversion to CNG for cars is between Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 50,000, and it is between Rs. 350,00 and Rs. Rs. 550,000 for diesel-driven buses.

Sprucing Up R.C. Dutt & Old Padra Roads: If things move according to plan, public-private partnership may be set in motion to develop and partly privatise R.C. Dutt Road and Old Padra Road. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) intends to develop both roads with proper parking facilities, pedestrian spaces and other amenities on the lines of the C.G. Road in Ahmedabad. To raise the resources for the project VMC may lease out parking and advertising rights.

Auction Of VMC Plots: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) will organise a public auction for 99-year leases of its commercial plots on November 28. There are 15 plots which have been chosen in areas like Gotri, Jetalpur, Saiyed Vasna Road. The plots will be leased at Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 6,000 per sq mt. The auction will be held at Sardar Patel Planetarium at 12 noon. Details can be obtained from Land Records Department (Commercial), Room No. 138, VMC Office, Khanderao Market.

Heritage Walk: Museum Association of Gujarat, in association with Chhaap (an artists' co-operative) and Friends of Museum (FOM) will conduct a Heritage Walk on November 23. The walk will start from Mandvi Gate and cover the lesser-known but historically important places within the walled city area: Vithal Mandir, Jagmahal Ni Pole, the unique Deepmala that was lighted daily during the Gaekwad reign, Vayudev Mandir, the old mint near Sayaji School, Ambe Mata Temple and Jumma Masjid which houses the largest copy of the Quran in Asia. The organizers hope that the walk will be then taken up and conducted on a regular basis by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation.

Multi-Sports Stadium: The Indian Olympic Association (IOC) may help the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) with the latter's plans to set up a multi-sports stadium on New Sama Road. IOC has said that assistance will come from the National Sports Authority. The proposed stadium will be spread over an area of 310,000 sq ft and it will have sections for table tennis, badminton, volleyball, athletic events, etc., as well as training and hostel facilities for sportspersons. The present stadium at Akota often serves as a venue for non-sporting activities.

Fine Arts Fair: The MS University Fine Arts Faculty Fair will be 'revived' after a gap of five years. It was last held in 1998. The fair will be held on December 25 and 26. Faculty students will display their works and the funds generated out of the sales will go into a corpus which will be used for student welfare. The fair is expected to raise about Rs. 500,000 through the sale of works of artists and students.

Punjabi Marriage Meet: The Punjabi Biradari has planned a marriage meet on December 14 at Old ONGC Officer's Club, Baroda. Those who wish to participate may contact 2641943, 2644414, and 2793526 before November 30.

Skating Medal: Sonali Nigania of New Era School, Nizampura, has won the gold medal in the National CBSE Skating Championship held in Chandigarh recently.

IT Award For Collectorate: The Vadodara District Collectorate has received an award from the Indian government for exemplary implementation of the e-governance initiative. The citizens' service center has computerised almost all its services, including issuing affidavits and caste and domicile certificates. The centre has earned over Rs. 500,000 in revenue in the last six months and hopes to recover the Rs. 3 million invested in it in the next two years.

Table Tennis Tournament: The National Ranking Table Tennis Championship 2003 will be conducted at Bal Bhavan by the Table Tennis Association of Baroda from November 12 to 16. Players from more than 28 states are expected to participate in six major events like men's and women's singles, junior boys and girls' singles and sub junior boys' and girls' singles.

Vocal Recital: Rasikapriya has organised a Carnatic vocal recital by Gayatri Sankar (disciple of Lalgudi Sri Jayaraman and staff artiste with All India Radio, Chennai) accompanied by S.V. Ramachandran on violin and Rajesh Srinivasan on Mrudangam at 6 p.m. at Utkarsh Vidyalaya Gujarati Medium School, Gadapura, on November 8.

Counselling Sessions: Baroda Management Association (BMA) has arranged counselling sessions for admission to Australian universities and colleges. November 8, 15, 22, 29.

The Dispensary That Prem Built: This is the modest dispensary which

has been set up by a city based charitable organisation – Prem Trust – at Sundarpura, 18 km from Baroda. This small dispensary is the only such facility for about 40,000 people living in 14 villages in a 6 to 8 km radius around Sundarpura – Alamgir, Vohragamdi, Dhanyavi, Raghupura, Patarveni, Sanvad, Shahpura, Hansapura, Fatehpura, Salad, Runwad, Ajitpura, Ravhipura and Meghakui. Believe it or not, the nearest doctor is 7 km away and the nearest government facility is 5 km away. Prem Trust started this activity in April 2003 and has already treated about 1500 patients, even though it can afford to run only 3 days a week, and that too for only 2 hours daily. The trust takes the honorary services of a Baroda based doctor and receives co-operation from SSG and Jamnabai Hospitals. Patients are charged no consulting fees, and they pay only Rs. 5 per day for medicines which the trust provides. If you would like to assist the trust in any way, please write to the Managing Trustee, R.C. Dimri <rcdimri@yahoo.co.in>

US Grant For Champaner: The ancient site of Champaner-Pavagadh will receive a US grant of $20,000 for its preservation. The grant will be given to Heritage Trust, a Vadodara based NGO. Champaner-Pavagadh is on the World Monument Fund's list of 100 most endangered heritage sites and is also India's only nomination to Unesco's World Heritage Site for 2004. The site has 36 monuments protected by the Archaeological Survey of India out of the 120 important structures identified here. About 2.2 million visitors come here every year, but few are aware of its historical importance. Most people visit the temple atop Pavagadh.

A Billion Thanks: Hi, I don't have words to express my feelings towards this site. Billions of thanks. You know through this site I met my friend's parents in USA after 16 years. 16 years before we had somehow parted from each other and with the help of this one they found me and called me and we met. Vaishali Patel <Vipvaishu2003@aol.com>

Low-Cost Effluent Treatment: A Baroda based small-scale unit – Orient Silk Industries – has been able to has been able to turn its effluents into a usable commodity by recycling them. They received help on this project from Gujarat Life Sciences, an organisation that installed bio-towers in the unit. Bio-towers are microbe coated packed beds and seem to solve the problems created by effluents. The effluents are passed through a series of bio-towers in which microbes are specifically introduced to break down the chemical composition. The towers with microbe coated beds degrade the pollutants in water and make it suitable for reuse. Bio-towers cost about Rs. 150,000. The unit has reduced its expenses by at least 40 per cent per month. The towers do not require maintenance.

A Message For MSU Techo Alumni: I graduated from MSU Techo (Mechanical, 1998) and am currently working with Wipro Technologies. It is my sincere effort to bring all MSU engineers at one common place to share their views. Since long back, I was feeling that there is no way that all MSU engineers can interact or share their experience with freshers or their batch mates. It will be much more helpful to students who are currently studying or just passed out. Please invite all your friends to use this group irrespective of branch and passing year. This is the only way we can bring all alumni of MSU Baroda to interact through one instrument. Networking of the best minds on this wonderful planet is my passion. Please contact Bharat N. Khokhani <khokhani.bharat@wipro.com>

New Waste Disposal Site: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has given permission for the development of a landfill site for solid waste disposal at Jambuva near Makarpura. Solid waste management now seems to be a priority concern and VMC has allocated Rs. 540,000 for the development of this new site. At present, solid waste is dumped at many open plots, like the ones at Munjmahuda, Chhani and Makarpura, and not much attention is paid to adhering to health norms or to the treatment of the waste. A Surat based consultant has been selected to prepare the plans and study the possible effects on the nearby localities.

BSNL Launches New Services: Vadodara Telecom District of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has begun two new services for its customers – Direct Internet Access Services (DIAS) and a cheque-drop facility for paying bills. DIAS provides Internet on a landline telephone without the need of a modem. The cheque-drop facility, initially available at Alkapuri exchange, is for paying bills anytime. DIAS will be initially available for customers in Sayajigunj, Fatehgunj, Karelibaug, Panigate and Subhanpura.

Incentive For Octroi Staff: Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has proposed a financial incentive scheme for its employees to get better results. The scheme, for those working in the octroi department, has been put up by the Municipal Commissioner before the Standing Committee for approval. It proposes that a percentage of octroi collection be given to the checking squad as well as other staff in the department. All the department staff may get to share one per cent if they achieve the octroi collection target of Rs. 1,300 million for year 2003-04. And if they cross Rs.1,400 million the staff may share two per cent of the total amount.

All Talukas Online: After having computerised the entire land record data, the Vadodara District Collectorate has now initiated steps to make all the 12 talukas online. Vadodara will be the second district after Narmada where land records have been computerised. The details of 1,549 villages and 658,244 landowners will be available through this. The records cannot be tampered with and every detail required for a land deal will be available. The data will be updated every 15 days.

X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer: MS University's Department of Metallurgy has acquired an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The instrument, costing Rs. 3 million, was obtained under a special assistance programme of the University Grants Commission. It is the fourth in a series of high-cost instruments that the department has acquired over the past few years, the other three being X-ray diffractometer, thermal analysis system and scanning electron microscope. Though meant for research by faculty members and students, it will add to the department's capacity to attract more funds by way of consultancy and sample analysis for industry. The scanning electron microscope, purchased last year, has already earned about Rs.100,000 for the department.

Think Tank Launched: The 'Baroda Forum for Policy Analysis' was launched on 21st October 2003 in Baroda. Some say that it is the city's first think tank on national and international policies, though many are not quite clear about the exact definition of a think tank. The forum will provide a platform to the city's intelligentsia from various walks of life to share ideas and give concrete suggestions on issues that are of relevance to society. The inaugural lecture of the forum was delivered by Professor Stephen Cohen, a fellow of the Brookings Institute, Washington. The forum has been promoted, among others, the former head of the Political Science Department of MS University, Professor Dilip Mohite.

Rangoli Exhibition: The Swastik Rangoli Kalakar Group has organised a rangoli exhibition from 22nd October to 6th November, 9.30 a.m. to 12 noon and 5.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., at Kirti Mandir.

Basil Wins Football Trophy: Basil School, Baroda, has won the Rev. Bro. Bois Football Trophy for the second time in the All Gujarat Inter School Junior Football tournament held in Ahmedabad recently. In the finals Basil defeated St. Xavier's School, Kalol (2-1). Basil captain Aftab Memon was selected best player of the tournament.

Air Show: The Indian Air Force will present an air show and a static exhibition at Vadodara airport on October 23. The air show, to be held for the first time over the Vadodara skies, will begin at 9 a.m. Modern front-line fighter aircraft, including Mig-21, Mig-23 and Mig-29 will fly in formations. An Avro transport aircraft and a Chetak helicopter will also participate in the show. The grand finale will include a display by the famed 'Surya Kiran' team and an enthralling display by the IAF's skydiving team 'Air Devils'. This will be followed by a static display of the IAF's weapons systems. The air show precedes an open recruitment rally for selection in both technical and non-technical trades for airmen to be held at Air Force Station, Makarpura, from October 31 to November 3. Youth in the age group of 16 to 22 from Gujarat can take part in the recruitment rally.

Crowded City: Of the 390,000 property units in the city of Vadodara, almost 95,000 are categorised under encroachments and illegal constructions. That is almost one-fourth of the city. Which means that every fourth person in the city is an encroacher. Living in Vadodara can be equated to sharing your space with 600 people per hectare. For those who are not aware of the national average, it is 275 people per hectare.

Course In Women's Studies: The Women's Studies Research Centre at MS University will begin its fourth inter-disciplinary course in women's studies from November 18. This short-term part-time postgraduate course will cover key issues in the area of women's studies. Graduates in any discipline and those working with NGOs with at least HSc and two years' experience are eligible for the course. The last date for submitting the form is November 10. For further details contact the course co-ordinator at the Women's Study Centre.

Home Décor: Yamini, the chain of home textile stores, is holding a cushion mela at Aayatna. Silks with gilt prints, sequin work, embroidery, cords and tassles, zari block prints on Maheshwari fabrics and crushed tissues are some of the items on display. October 15-25.

NGO Collects Rs. 37 Million For SSG Hospital: Efforts made by the Holy Care Project to renovate and maintain the buildings of the century-old Sir Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital have resulted in contributions of Rs. 37 million from the NRI alumni of the Baroda Medical College. The project was launched by an NGO, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, in 1999. The SSG Hospital caters to 1,168 outpatients and 1,023 in-patients daily. The NGO has successfully completed the first phase of the project with 15 out of the 50 wards being renovated. On completion of the project, the 37-acre SSG campus will not only have modern wards but also a greener ambience. The total project estimate is Rs. 120 million and the NGO has tried to enlist the support of NRI alumni, local donors and the Gujarat government. Over 1,400 NRI alumni of the Baroda Medical College have contributed Rs. 37.6 million, which is about 25 per cent of the total cost, and the Gujarat government may bear 50 per cent of the expenditure. Project Director Piyush Shah says that the balance 25 per cent is expected from generous donors. The trust has employed volunteers to maintain cleanliness in all the renovated wards. It has also tied up with companies who donate detergents, disinfectants and floor scrubbers. It would be great if you too could chip in with your contribution to help the effort along. If you are interested, please write to Piyush Shah <ssgh@holycare.org>

'Privatisation' Of R.C. Dutt Road: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has proposed the idea of transferring the maintenance, operation and management of R.C. Dutt Road to private operators. The civic body has already received five proposals from private bidders in response to an advertisement inviting expression of interest. The plan is at a nascent stage as the feasibility is yet to be worked out. The plan also involves widening of the existing 18-metre road to 30 metres.

New Art Gallery: The Bayer ABS Art Gallery, which will open on Old Padra Road on October 17, may possibly be Baroda's largest art gallery. It is built at two levels and has extensive wall space and an open courtyard for sculptures. It is designed by architect Karan Grover and promoted by Rakesh Agarwal. The first show, 'Mappings', from October 17 to November 3, will feature a dozen well-known Indian contemporary artists.

Barodian Selected For Skating Meet: Iti Gandhi of Baroda, a first-year BBA student at MS University, has been selected for the In-line World Speed Skating Championship to be held in Venezuela from November 1 to 9. Iti learnt skating at the age of 11 and she has participated in major ranking championships in roller speed skating.

Santoor Concert: Spic Macay presents a concert by santoor player Pandit Omprakash Chourasiya. Home Science Faculty Auditorium, 7.30 p.m., October 12.

Designer Collection: Wild Flower Designer presents an exhibition of ethnic, western and fusion designer creations by Priyanka Bapna, Aashima Belapurkar and Shilpa Yohan. Trisha Gallery, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. October 13 to 16.

Shaam-E-Hyderabad: Culinary delicacies of the chefs from Taj Banjara, Hyderabad. At Taj Residency, Baroda. October 10 to 20. 7.30 p.m. onwards.

Hyderabadi Food Festival: October 9 to 23. Buffet Dinner from 7 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. At Kala Ghoda Restaurant, Sayaji Hotel. Also live Ghazals & Shayaris.

Sari Exhibition: Kanchul boutique presents an exhibition of a wide range of saris including Pochampallis, Tusser silks and creeps with 'dhabu' print and 'upada' saris with real gold embellishment. Till October 11.

Prints & Weaves: Aseel presents an exhibition of fabrics from all over India. Also crochets, gold jadao imitations, wall pieces, terracotta gift articles and Japanese paintings. At Piccadilly, Jetalpur Road, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. October 13-14.

Diamond Jewellery: Manek Gem-Art International has organised an exhibition-cum-sale of real diamond jewellery at Trisha Gallery. October 11 and 12. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Rajasthani Bhojan Mahotsav: This food festival is on at Hotel Surya till October 10. Also Rajasthani puppet show and Kutchi dances by folk artistes.

Pollution In Baroda: Indian Oil Corporation recently sponsored a study on Baroda's ambient air quality in April 2003. It was conducted by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and MS University's Environmental Science Department. Data was collected to measure the levels of pollutants like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, suspended particulate matter (SPM), hydrocarbons and methane. The preliminary report is out now, and it does not paint a very happy picture.

The data has thrown up some interesting results:
… The Subhanpura Ward Office area recorded the highest amount of sulphur dioxide in the     city and that, too, past midnight.
… Khanderao Market tops the sulphur dioxide levels in the morning and afternoon hours.
… Lalbaug tops the observation levels for nitrogen oxide throughout the day, except for a     brief lull after midnight.
… The presence of SPM is the highest in those places where there is maximum traffic.
… The Kalabhavan area near Badamdi Baug tops the SPM levels during morning hours,     whereas later in the day it is Panigate, Baroda Dairy crossroads, Abhilasha Crossing and     again Lalbaug.
… The area near the GSFC main gate registered the peak hydrocarbon value in the morning,     whereas later in the day it is near the SSG Hospital Gate and thereafter at Abhilasha     crossroad.
… What has surprised the researchers is the steady levels of methane across the city at     different places and different time periods.
… The area near the NCC Office at Fatehgunj records the highest amount of methane during     the early evening hours.

While the preliminary reports indicate a link between heavy vehicular traffic and the presence of pollutants, some exceptions have also been noticed. The Kala Ghoda Circle, which has a heavy flow of traffic throughout the day, is conspicuously missing from the list of areas that registered high levels of methane. The reason may lie in the presence of the sprawling Sayajibaug nearby and the open spaces in the vicinity, which may act as a deterrent to the concentration of pollutants.

Daily Average Levels Of Pollutants
Sulphur Dioxide: 12.49 m gm/cu m
Nitrogen Oxide: 21.13 m gm/cu m
Suspended Particulate Matter: 157.6 m gm/cu m
Hydrocarbons: 2043 m gm/cu m
Methane: 2025 m gm/cu m.

Printmaking Workshop: Chhaap is non-profit co-operative studio for printmaking set up by five Baroda based artists. Its main objective is to promote prints and create awareness about printmaking. The Chhaap Committee includes Kavita Shah, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Vijay Bagodi, Akkitham Vasudevan and B.V. Suresh. Chhaap has now announced an introductory workshop for schoolchildren to introduce them to the wonderful medium of art as a means of expression and communication. The workshop will be conducted from 13th to 17th October, from 3.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The hands-on workshop will give the children some insight into the historical background of printmaking, how to look at prints and also how to make prints. The fees are Rs. 350 and eight students can be taken in each workshop. For details contact: Chhaap, Purshottam Estate, Bahucharaji Road, Karelibaug, Baroda 390 018. Ph: 460496. Email: chhaap@rediffmail.com Website: www.vadodara.com/co/chhaap.htm

Kiran More's Cricket Academy: Rajsingh Dungarpur, the former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chairman, inaugurated the 'Kiran More International Cricket Academy' (KMICA) at Bhavan's Public School in Baroda on 5th October. Also present at the inaugural function were former cricketers Sandip Patil, Madan Lal, T.A. Sekhar and Anil Kumble, all of whom will be on the board of governors of the academy. Kiran More, who already runs a private academy in the city, said that the new set-up will find and groom talent from schools. The stress will also be on nurturing talent in rural areas and among women cricketers. He plans to have similar facilities in other Baroda schools too.

Stadium Inaugurated: Baroda mayor N.V. Patel inaugurated a multi-purpose stadium at Gujarat Public School (near the Kalali railway crossing in Atladra) on 30th September. Built by the Bakulesh R. Gupta Foundation, the stadium has all facilities for organising national level tournaments in basketball, skating, tennis and squash. Besides sports facilities, it also has hostel facilities for outstation sports personalities and a screen for showing films.

Cyber Cafe Rules: Vadodara Police Commissioner has issued a notification under the Criminal Procedure Code asking cyber cafe owners to desist from providing blocked cabins to customers. The notification has been issued following reports that such places were sometimes used for viewing pornographic sites.

Off-Again, On-Again Garbas: The major garba organisers who had postponed their garba programmes because of the rains to 1st October, decided to begin the programmes from Monday (29th September). They have also decided for the moment to restrict the garbas till Dussehra only. The postponement of the festival related activities had generated widespread criticism from people who did not appreciate the re-scheduling because they believed it was prompted strictly by a desire to keep the commercial sponsors in good humour. One unexpected but welcome outcome of the rains was that the hitherto overshadowed sheri garbas again became popular with those who would otherwise have flocked to the more happening venues.

Library Automation Course: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will begin a postgraduate diploma course in Library Automation and Networking (PGDLAN) from January-2004. Those with a Bachelor's degree in Library Science are eligible for the course. The application forms and prospectus can be obtained from the IGNOU Study Centre at MS University, opposite the D.N. Hall cricket ground, Pratapgunj, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The forms have to be submitted before October 31.

Designer Interiors: Vinita Jain presents an exhibition-cum-sale of bedsheets, dohar-chorsa, pillow-covers, sofa backs with embroidery and appliqué work along with chapati bags, door-mats, blankers, stuffed pillows, napkin hangers. Trisha Gallery. October 9-10.

Navratri Starts, Major Garbas Postponed: Heavy rains dampened the Navratri mood of many Barodians on Friday (26th September), the first day of Navratri. Major garba organisers re-scheduled the celebrations from October 1 to 10. There was a heavy downpour that lashed the city for almost 12 hours since Thursday night. The garba grounds were turned into pools of water. The sun was out by noon on Friday, but another very heavy bout of rain on Saturday afternoon ruled out the garbas for another day. The major grounds are hardly fit for dancing. The organisers who postponed the garbas are United Way (at Atladra), Yugshakti (at Akota Stadium), United Arki (behind Aradhana Theatre), BITA (at Ajitnagar Garba Ground) and Surmayi Garba Mahotsav (at the Vaccine Institute ground on Old Padra Road). This is apparently the first time that the festival was being postponed, and the revellers will now dance according to the new schedule. Fortunately, the organisers are not empowered by nature to re-schedule Navratri too, so the religious ceremonies were duly performed at all the sites.

Tax Raids On Tuition Classes: The Income Tax department has detected evasion of over Rs. 20 million in raids carried out recently at the premises of private tuition classes, doctors and papad manufacturers. The raids targeted three tuition classes. A doctor, who filed his returns at Vadodara, was found to be practicing in Surat and he has reportedly confessed to unaccounted assets worth Rs. 5.6 million.

Paintings On 'AUM': Exhibition by Jayesh Kansara. 27th Sept to 5th Oct. At Abhivyakti Sanskrutik Sthal, Kirti Mandir Compound.

Rekha Rodwittiya Exhibition: The artist will exhibit her recent works at Sarjan Art Gallery, Vishwas Colony, from Oct 3 to 20, 12 noon to 8 p.m. (except Sundays).

Crochet Delights: Kalpana Shukla and Jasu Vadalia present an exhibition cum sale of embroidered crochet purses, dupattas, table mats, photo frames, pillow covers and an assortment of other items at the Trisha Art Gallery. 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sept 30.

Art Exhibitiion: Monal Jayaram and Satyajit Kadam, ex-students of MS University's Fine Arts Faculty, have organised an exhibition and sale of works of art produced by Vadodara artists. Part of the proceeds will go to support the Awareness of Mental Health activity of Dr. Yogesh Patel's Institute of Mental Health & De-addiction. The exhibition will be on October 3. Almost 50 city artists are participating in this exhibition, including Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, Nagji Patel, Rini Dhumal, Mahendra Pandya, Indrapranit Roy, Sasidharan, Jayanti Rabadia, Vijay Bagodi, Kavita Shah, Sachin Karne, Vinod Patel and Alok Bal. A work by the late Bhupen Khakhar will also be exhibited. Venue: Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU.

Soft Toys Sale: Curiosity Workshop has organised a sale of soft toys that can be used as cushions, landscape bedcovers, quilts and tablemats for children's bedrooms. Trisha Gallery. October 1-2.

Rangoli Exhibition: This is one of the most eagerly anticipated exhibitions held in the city. This year the Rangoli exhibition, coinciding with the Navratri festival, starts on September 26 at Kirti Mandir. As many as 15 artists are participating in the exhibition which will be on till October 4. It is organised by Alpana Creative Artists.

Handcrafted Textiles: Heritage Trust and MS University's department of Clothing & Textiles have put together an informative exhibition of the handcrafted textiles of Gujarat. Supported by India's Development Commissioner (Handlooms), the exhibition introduces the viewer to the textile heritage and treasures of the state. The exhibition has been broadly divided into Woven, Printed, Embroidered and Tie & Dye textiles. The exhibition is part of the prestigious theme pavilion of the Textile Expo at the University Grounds, Ahmedabad, which was inaugurated on September 25. It will be on for the next three weeks.

Garba Timings: The Gujarat government has decided to allow garbas to go on with loudspeakers till midnight as per the Supreme Court guidelines. However, all those who wish to continue dancing into the night may do so, but they will have to keep the noise level within the permissible limit.

VMC Plans To Cut Jobs: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) is planning to cut its workforce by almost 30 per cent, according to the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations. The civic body has already achieved the requisite figure of 20 per cent and plans to cut jobs by another 10 per cent over the next seven years. At present the civic body spends Rs. 1.11 billion for salaries, perks and meeting day-to-day administrative expenses. The wage bill at present consumes almost 51 per cent of the budget of the VMC. The civic authorities plan to bring this figure down to 42 per cent in the first phase, 34 per cent in the second phase and 27 per cent in the final phase over the next seven years.

MSU Union Polls: The National Students Union of India (NSUI) candidates won two important posts – general secretary and vice-president – in the recently held elections of MS University Students Union (MSUSU) and ended Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's (ABVP) six-year reign. NSUI's Rutvij Joshi and Mihir Rughani defeated Jignesh Rao and Vilas Dubey and captured the posts of VP and GS respectively. ABVP's candidates lost to their NSUI rivals by margins that are the highest in the history of the union polls. Joshi polled 5,425 votes, defeating Rao by a margin of 2,445 votes, and Rughani got 2,980 votes, defeating Dubey by about 500 votes. Polling took place at about 80 booths in the campus. The total votes cast were 10,061, that is 29.69 per cent of the university's student strength of 32,672. Of these, 360 votes were declared invalid.

NRI Parents Meeting: The NRI Parents Association will hold its monthly meeting on 27th September at 5.30 p.m. at Hotel Express. All members as well as those seeking membership are requested to participate in the meeting. For registration please ring up 2488849 or write to vijaykhopkar@hotmail.com

Institute For Disabled: 'Sevatirth', run by the 'Society for Training and Vocational Rehabilitation of the Disabled', which gives training to disabled children and elderly people have started admissions to their institute. The organisation offers various training courses, besides providing residential facilities and provision of food. Those interested may call on 2646361 for further information. Email: panchal10purushottam@rediffmail.com

Jaipur Sarees: Jaipur Saree Kendra comes to Vadodara with a wide range of exclusive bandhej, Barmeri block print and Jaipur embroidered sarees at Trisha Gallery. The exhibition also features a range of leheriyas, bandhanis and dress materials. September 24 to 28.

Amiti Bazaar: Amiti Bazaar from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, presents an exhibition of hand-made wooden furniture and gift items like photo frames, candle-stands, gift boxes, jharokas, chowkis and telephone stands at Sienna Gallery. A range of home furnishings will also be on display. September 28 to October 5.

Vipassana Course: Vadodara Vipassana Samiti has organised a ten-day residential course from October 29 at New Era Secondary School, Nizampura. A one-day course will also be held on the same day. For further information and registration ring up 2341375 or 2343302, or write to P.K. Jenendran at tml@wilnetonline.net

Rains Trigger Pre-Navratri Nervousness: Thousands of people in Baroda are keeping their fingers crossed while hoping and praying that the present wet weather spell passes well in time for the Navratri celebrations to kick off on time and in the usual style. At present the various garba grounds are wet enough to dampen the spirits. However, if the rains ease up soon there will be enough time for the grounds to dry up before D-Night, 26th September.

Though everyone talks enthusiastically about the garba fever, which undoubtedly has taken hold over the city, the number of garba venues has been steadily declining over the years. According to figures available from the police authorities, there were 422 venues in 2000, 398 in 2001, 343 in 2002 and just 281 this year.

The walled city areas are seeing fewer pol or street garbas, and several other venues have been taken over for real estate development. Among the recent ones to close down to make way for new constructions are the Amrapali garba in Karelibaug and the Haribhakti, Sampatrao Colony and Ellora Park venues. In certain places, the garba venues have been shifted, as in the case of the Deep Garba in Manjalpur. The garba organisers say that one of the main reasons for the decline is the increasing cost of holding garbas, which in turn makes them chase big-time money from the big-time sponsors. Also, the younger garba enthusiasts – who seem to constitute the vocal and visible majority – prefer the bigger, more 'happening' places to the more traditional venues in the city's lanes and smaller housing societies. So, the culture is inevitably toeing the lines of commercial considerations and the evolving trends in what is the fashionable thing to do.

Sponsorship patterns are changing too. The cola companies are lying low this year, yielding ground to the cellular phone operators, private banks, and FMCG groups like ITC, Godfrey Phillips, LG, Samsung and Manikchand. These are waters for only the big fish to wallow in, and it is not surprising therefore that the small-time neighbourhood garbas find it difficult to raise even the modest funds they need. And, on the surface at least, it looks as if there are not enough takers for the modest scene. The hep may not really be in the majority, but they are certainly hogging the limelight, and the funds.

Garbage Disposal Worries VMC The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) recently conducted a study on the city's garbage. Some of the highlights:

…. Each person produces 400 grams of waste per day.
…. The city churns out 535 tonnes of waste per day.
…. Sayajigunj's daily contribution is 190,000 kg, Subhanpura's 154,000 kg and Shiabaug's 78,192 kg.
…. 75 per cent of the garbage generated is solid indestructible wastes like plastics, polymer gradients and artificial fibre. The rest is organic waste.

Most of this waste does not get to the designated landfill sites. It normally collects around the housing societies and is both a health hazard and a nuisance for the city. The main reasons for this state of affairs are the increasing costs of waste collection and the decreasing number of landfall sites. The city earlier had six proper landfill sites – at Gorwa, Kishanwadi, Dabhoi Road, Manjalpur tank, Akota village and Atladra. Now there is just one, which sprawls over 150,000 sq ft, at Vadsar near the Delhi Public School, and this too will be full in four years. VMC has asked a Canadian firm to help identify other landfill sites and suggest measures for the management of bio-medical, industrial and domestic wastes. India's first mechanical compost plant will soon become operational at Atladra; this plant will be able to degrade 300 tonnes of waste per day.

Pagdi Bech Ghee Mat Khayo: Avantilal Chawla, a faculty member at MS University's Faculty of Performing Arts, is an acknowledged expert on the turbans of India. He has pursued this hobby with single-minded devotion. He has been mentioned in the Limca Book of Records 2001 for making the world's biggest turban – weighing 6.6 kg and 152 ft long. Now he is fashioning one that will weigh 10 kg and be 160 ft long. Besides collecting and making turbans, he is also a walking encyclopaedia on the subject. One saying associated with the turban is 'pagdi bech ghee mat khayo'; following this advice he has chosen not to profit from his pastime. His pagdis are displayed in many museums in India and he has made over 1000 of them for temples. He was also asked to make 20 pagdis for Shyam Benegal's film on Netaj Bose.

Paintings Exhibition: An exhibition of paintings by internationally acclaimed artist Bhupen Khakhar will be organised by Friends of Bhupen on Sunday (21st September) at Sanskriti Art Gallery at 6.00 p.m. The exhibition will continue till 24th September and will be moved to Sienna Art Gallery at Alkapuri after the inaugural function. Bhupen Khakhar passed away in Baroda on 8th August 2003.

Literacy Drive: The Vadodara district collectorate will mobilise its 13,000 staff across the district for a literacy campaign. The campaign, called 'Akshar Prasar', will start later this month. It is meant to achieve cent percent literacy in Vadodara district by 2006. Almost 6,000 teachers in various primary education centers will visit villages and educate people on the importance of literacy. According to a survey conducted by the collectorate, nearly 969,000 people are illiterate in Vadodara out of a 1.9 million rural population.

Vehicle Population Rises: Baroda recorded an increase of 51,391 vehicles in the past one year. Out of the 698,173 registrations made till March 2003, there are 360,807 geared motorcycles, 168,007 gearless vehicles, 56,619 four-wheelers and 28,189 autorickshaws. When compared to figures recorded in March last year, the motorcycle population has increased by 36,641 followed by gearless vehicles which surged by 6,170. Close on the heels is the four-wheeler category which has increased by 5,235. There have been 804 and 122 additions to the autorickshaw and jeep categories respectively.

Course For Estate Brokers: The recently formed Indian Institute of Real Estate (IIRE) has 142 brokers from major Indian cities. It now plans to start a certificate course for brokers in Vadodara as the first step towards creating awareness about the need to organise the industry. IIRE has tied up with the US based Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO) to help them devise laws that can regulate the market. Incidentally, Sachin Shroff of Comfort Realty of Vadodara is the only member of IIRE from Gujarat.

Kurta Exhibition: Paurvi Pathak and Dipal Naik present an exhibition cum sale of hand block printed and embroidered kurtas in jute and cotton for men. Designed specially for Navratri, the kurtas come in an assortment of colours and designer cuts. Venue: 19, Mitramandal Society, Nizampura. 20th September: 4.30 p.m. to 9 p.m., 21st September: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Trendy Kurtas: Nikita and Sonal Zaveri present an exhibition cum sale of trendy and traditional cotton kurtas for men at the Trisha Gallery. September 18-20. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

MSU Union Elections: Elections to the MS University Students' Union (MSUSU) will be held on September 22 after being stalled for nearly 10 days due to a stay order from the court. The decision on the poll date was taken at an emergency meeting of the university syndicate. The stay had been issued following a petition which had contested a decision to divide the Faculty of Commerce into four units for administrative convenience.

Stars Play Spoilsport: The marriage related businesses in Gujarat are estimated to be worth Rs. 8 billion annually – including hotels, marriage halls, party plots, catering, music bands, jewellery, clothing and beauty parlours. This year, however, an astrologically inauspicious period – a 13-month stretch after July – has proved to be a spanner in the works for this industry. In Ahmedabad, for instance, the 16 marriage halls belonging to the municipal corporation are still available; in more auspicious periods, the same halls would have been booked three to four months in advance. The bleak business prospects have motivated one member of an orchestra to try his luck in the USA for NRI marriages there. He wants to believe that the American stars may be more favourably disposed.

System Twistem Gachami: Spirit Group from Mumbai presents its two-act comedy 'System Twistem Gachami', based on Dario Fo's 'Death of an Anarchist'. The play has been directed by Manurishi Chadha and it has been brought to Baroda by Integra Advertising. The cast includes Rajesh Kumar, Bilala Khan, Hashim Haider, Naveen Tyagi and Shradha Kaul. The play will be staged on September 21 at C.C. Mehta Auditorium, from 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

Shalini Patel Exhibition: Shalini Patel studied painting at MS University's Faculty of Fine Arts and completed her postgraduation in 1981. She now divides time between her family and painting. This is perhaps her first major solo show. The exhibition is titled, 'Your Planet and Mine' and will be on from September 15 to 25 at Sarjan Art Gallery, daily 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Vinod Meghani On Van Gogh: Vinod Meghani, grandson of Zaverchand Meghani, is himself a writer of distinction. He will present a talk and slide show, Salagataan Surajmukhi, an introduction to his translation in Gujarati of Irving Stone's popular book 'Lust for Life', a biography of the painter Van Gogh. The first part of the talk will focus on the book itself while the later half will deal with the 'making of a masterpiece'. The talk, organised by the Nirmal Foundation and the Netherlands Business Support Office (Gujarat), will be at 7.30 p.m. on September 14 in the lobby of the ABN AMRO Bank. All are invited.

Peace, But Disturbed: Minor stone-pelting in Baroda's Mangal Bazar area caused some panic in a few walled-city areas on Wednesday (10th September) afternoon. Though the violence was curbed immediately with the timely intervention of the police, many shops in Mangal Bazar, Nava Bazar, M.G. Road and nearby areas downed their shutters following the incidents. Late in the evening, a similar disturbance was reported from the Wadi Rangmahal area of the city; this too was brought under control immediately and life returned to the nervously normal.

Disturbance During Immersion Processions: Incidents of violence disturbed the Ganesh immersion processions in Baroda on 9th September. Stone pelting took place in several areas of the walled city and the police resorted to teargas shelling and fired several rounds to curb the violence, which continued till late in the night. However, the situation was soon brought under control. In a related development, the police arrested the Vadodara based managers of Hutch and Idea mobile phone services on the charge of violating a police notification banning the exchange of SMS messages from noon on 9th September to 6 a.m. on 10th September. The ban was intended to prevent irresponsible rumours. Both persons were released on bail by the court.

Baroda Fares Poorly In Airport Rankings: The Airports Authority of India has done one more study on customer satisfaction at its major airports. The study was conducted in June-July 2003 at 30 airports across India by Development & Research Services (DRS). Kolkata (77 %) and Mumbai (76 %) are ranked first and second. Goa is 3rd with 75 % and the 4th is Thiruvananthapuram with 74 %. Delhi, which is next only to Mumbai, in terms of international passenger traffic, is rated the 3rd among the list of the worst (the 1st being Amritsar and the second being Bangalore). The study reveals that international airports provide somewhat the same level of customer satisfaction as domestic ones despite cornering most of the funds. The responses from passengers were studied in nine broad categories, ranging from attitude of the airport staff, general aesthetics and trolley services to toilet cleanliness and general hygiene. DRS interviewed 56,338 passengers, which represents nearly 8 per cent of the weekly passenger traffic. Some of the smaller domestic airports – Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar and Nagpur – were singled out as being the fastest movers up the satisfaction charts. Vadodara and Imphal have however slipped considerably since the last survey. Vadodara and Varanasi share the fourth place in the list of the worst domestic airports, the first three being Amritsar, Vizag and Patna.

GSFC On Decline: Baroda's Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GSFC) has for long been one of the jewels in Gujarat's crown. A newspaper report suggests that this may no longer be so. GSFC has become a potentially sick company and needs to report to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The company's net-worth has been eroded by 65 per cent to Rs. 5,170 million in 2002-03 from Rs. 14,910 million in 1998-99 due to accumulated losses. Under the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, a company has to report to the BIFR if more than 50 per cent of the peak net-worth is eroded during the immediately preceding four financial years.

Sahara's Massive Housing Project: Sahara India Pariwar, the Lucknow-based residuary non-banking company (RNBC) plans to invest Rs.1,180,000 million (US $ 25.65 billion) in constructing housing projects spread across 202 cities in India. Chairman Subrata Roy said that for the housing project they will buy cement worth Rs. 50,000 million and steel worth Rs. 23,000 million. Each house will cost Rs. 450,000. The facilities will include broadband internet connectivity, a mini artificial seashore, water parks, swimming pools and gymnasium. The entire project will have a chain of 202 shopping malls and 202 multiplexes with 808 screens. To put this type of investment in perspective, consider these figures: the non-performing assets of India's banking industry add up to Rs.1,100,000 million; Rs. 540,000 million is the money spent to construct the Golden Quadrilateral Highways across the country. Eleven townships are planned in Gujarat, including those in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot. The schemes are spread over 18,575 acres of land with a built-up area of 68.8 million sq. m. Over 675,000 houses will be built.

Tough Times For Cinema Halls: Huge multiplexes and small video parlours are proving to be too much competition for Gujarat's traditional cinema halls. As many as 70 cinema halls have closed down in the state in the last 10 months, and 100 more may face a similar fate. There are at present 16 multiplexes and 350 cinema halls today in Gujarat. Baroda has two multiplexes – Chandan and Inox. Multiplexes have been given a five-year tax holiday, estimated now at Rs. 400 million annually, under the tourism policy. Multiplexes therefore corner almost all the new releases because they are able to make handsome payments to the distributors which the cinema halls cannot. The state has 600 video theatres, of which more than 300 are in Surat alone.

Designer Navratri: Designer Hemali Jadeja will present her Navratri collection at Sienna Art Gallery from September 18 to 20. Based on the theme of 'leheriya', the collection will feature some traditional-yet-funky outfits like chaniyas, cholis in halter-necks, embroidered corsets and a wide range of trendy kurtas for men.

Security For Immersion Ceremony: In order to prevent any untoward incidents during the Ganesh immersion ceremony on September 9, the Vadodara police have made very elaborate security arrangements. The city has been divided into 22 sectors for the purpose of effective policing and 108 high-rise points have been selected from where the security personnel can keep an eye on miscreants. A small 'army' has been deployed to try and keep the peace: 2,700 constables, three Deputy Commissioners of Police, one Joint Commissioner of Police, 26 Police Inspectors, 90 Sub-Inspectors of the city police, besides six Superintendents of Police, 12 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 42 Police Inspectors and 50 Police Sub-Inspectors from other districts. Apart form this, eight companies of the Special Reserve Police, one company of the Rapid Action Force, one company of the Border Security Force and two companies of the border wing of the Home Guards, 3000 Home Guards and 700 police personnel selected from different districts will be deployed on bandobast duty. Twenty 20 cranes will be used in the immersion ceremony of 1,900 Ganesh idols at the Sursagar Lake. To ensure that no explosive materials or weapons are smuggled in to create disturbance, anti-sabotage checking will be conducted and metal detectors will be installed at the immersion venue. The bandobast will be monitored through videography and 10 watchtowers near the immersion venue.

Stay On MSU Polls: On 5th September the Vadodara civil court ordered an interim injunction on all the further proceedings of elections to be held at MS University till September 8. This comes just a day after nomination papers were filed by candidates for the university elections to be held on September 15. According to an amendment passed by the university syndicate on August 28, the Faculty of Commerce was divided into four units – M.Com unit, Girls College, General Education Building and the Main Building. Following this, a petition was filed stating that the act of the syndicate is arbitrary and illegal and that the syndicate did not follow the procedures laid down in the relevant MS University rules. It seems that the rules make it imperative for the syndicate to obtain the opinion of the general body of the union and the executive committee on the proposed change.

EME School Seminar: The Baroda based EME School of the Indian Army will organise a national seminar on 'Modern Trends in Armaments and Small Arms' on September 26 and 27. The seminar, which will be held with the support of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, will dwell on issues pertaining to armaments and the challenges posed by futuristic weapon systems.

Sizzler Fiesta: At Cascade, WelcomHotel. Till September 15. 7.30 p.m. to 11.30 p.m.

Proposal To Demolish Bhadra Fort: Believe it, because it is true. The Public Works Department (PWD) has proposed that the Bhadra Fort at Panigate junction should be demolished because the funds to maintain this historical building are not available. For the moment, though, the proposal has been opposed by the Archaeology Department. Till recently, this building used to house the treasury, the city and rural mamlatdar offices and the PWD offices. When these departments were shifted to Narmada Bhavan, the building was generally unoccupied. Bhadra is one of the first forts and was built when Vadodara was taking shape. Architect Sanjeev Joshi (he did his thesis on Vadodara's architectural development, focusing on certain monuments – including Bhadra Fort – as milestones) says that Bhadra's history goes back to the times of the Mughal rulers, who built it as a double fortification around 1570. It seems that Akbar once stayed here briefly. The Marathas came in around 1720, changing the character of the monument from a purely militarised fortification to a socio-cultural complex, and then to an administrative block in 1860. It was after the development of the Kothi complex in the 1920s that this building began to lose its importance. The ASI says that the monument is a heritage building (any structure more than 75 years old, but not a protected monument.

VMC Workshop For 8,000 Children: Over 35,000 students study in standards III and IV in schools run by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC). Of them, 8,000 students are deficient in terms of basic reading, writing and mathematical skills. To improve their skills, the Gujarat Council for Education and Research Training (GCERT) has launched a ten-day training programme from September 5. VMC is the only municipal corporation selected in Gujarat for the pilot testing of this statewide project. In Vadodara, the project is being implemented by the District Institute of Educational Training (DIET). The students for the workshop were selected from 124 municipal board schools through a test prepared by GCERT.

Parul Shah On UNESCO Body: Vadodara's Parul Shah (a professor in MS University's Faculty of Performing Arts) has been appointed to UNESCO's Counsel International de Dance. She is the second Barodian to occupy this position; the late C.C. Mehta was a nominated member of the theatre forum. Issues and policies concerning various art forms of the world are normally tabled at this dance forum. She was awarded the Gaurav Puraskar in 1998-99 and her thesis on 'Rasa Dance of Gujarat' made her the first performing artiste in Gujarat to be awarded a doctorate in dance.

Ganpati Paintings: Amita Mathur, an artist who has had no formal training in art, is holding an exhibition featuring 108 paintings on just one theme – Ganpati. The exhibition is being held at Akruti Gallery and it will be on till 7th September. The paintings are all on glass, and she completed them in less than six months.

The Psychological Factors Behind Infertility: Doctors now tend to recommend in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) to treat childless couples who are medically normal. It is against this backdrop that three Baroda gynaecologists have spent 20 years to study the role of psychological factors in such cases. They seem to have come up with some surprising results. Dr. Rajni Vyas, Dr. Gita Advanikar and Dr. Leena Hathi suggest that you can sometimes work wonders with such couples simply by letting them know exactly how conception takes place and explaining to them over a period of time that there is nothing wrong with them. The knowledge that they have a psychological block, not an organic one, may prove to be therapeutic in some cases. The August issue of the 'Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of India' carries their paper 'Vyas Modification of Huhner's Test: An Innovation of Immunological Infertility'. The doctors examined 2,235 couples between 1978 and 1998, of which 454 had unexpected reproductive failure. The modified Huhner test was conducted on 295 couples. Within three months of the modified test, at least 50 of the women conceived. The doctors believe that they achieved a high success rate mainly because of psychotherapy and the use of hypnotherapy.

Court Voids Rajmata Will: The ongoing property dispute within the Gaekwad royal family of Baroda was again back in the news on 30th August with a city civil court nullifying Rajmata Shantadevi Gaewad's will. The court appointed commissioners to inspect and report about the present status of all immovable properties owned by the royal family and put a permanent injunction on any transaction of any part of the property till the title suit is finally decided. The family of the former rulers of Baroda has been divided after Sangramsinh in 1991 questioned Shantadevi's right to draw up a will. Her eldest daughter Mrunalini Devi Puar and Ranjitsinh are on the other side in this dispute. Sangramsinh argues that the family is not governed by the Hindu Succession Act and that their family custom did not allow women to inherit property. Shantadevi died in May 2002. The court has now ordered a stay on the Laxmi Vilas Palace, the 707 acres surrounding the palace, the field next to the Polo Ground, the land in the front of MSU's Technology Facility, a property on Race Course Road, agricultural land near Makarpura, a bungalow at Ajwa, Shikari Chowki at Timbi, Dabka outhouse, some land near Jhambua, 5000 square meters of land on Juhu Tara Road in Mumbai, etc.

Rare Surgical Operation: A rare surgical procedure involving the joining of spinal column nerves to the limbs was performed in Baroda at Unity Hospital on 31st August. The procedure, called 'Brachial Plexus' surgery, was done by Dr. Anil Bhatia, a Pune based specialist. The operation was viewed live by a group of orthopaedics, neurologists, plastic surgeons and micro-vascular experts at the hospital's auditorium. The delicate operation involves the rejoining of disrupted nerves to their origin at the spinal column. The 12-hour long marathon operation was performed on a 21-year-old college student of the city whose right hand had been paralysed when he slipped from his motorbike.

Petrol Price Hiked: The public sector oil marketing companies have increased the retail selling prices of petrol and diesel from 1st September.

Motor spirit (petrol): Retail selling price (Rs./ltr)
Location	Current price	Revised price	Increase
Ahmedabad	33.34	35.55	2.21
Vadodara	33.18	35.39	2.21
Rajkot	33.41	35.62	2.21
Surat	33.53	35.74	2.21
High speed (diesel): Retail selling price (Rs./ltr)
Location	Current price	Revised price	Increase
Ahmedabad	22.30	23.70	1.40
Vadodara	21.71	23.11	1.40
Rajkot	21.93	23.33	1.40
Surat	22.49	23.89	1.40

MSU Union Polls: Elections to the MS University Union, which represents about 35,000 students, will be held on September 15. The polls will be for the posts of vice-president, general secretary and faculty representatives. The last date for the filing of nominations is September 4 and the last date for withdrawals is September 6. The counting of votes and the declaration of results will take place on 15th September. In a major change from previous years, the Faculty of Commerce has been divided into four units – the main building, the General Education building, Girls College and the postgraduate unit in the Deep Building – each of which will have separate seats for faculty representatives; in the earlier system the entire faculty was considered as one unit for elections.

Grant For Poverty Alleviation Project: MS University's Faculty of Social Work (FSW) has been allocated a special grant of Rs. 4.65 million by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to work on a poverty alleviation and social development project. The programme has been approved for the period between April 2003 and March 2008. Former FSW dean Anil Navale has been appointed co-ordinator of the project.

BAPS Donates Software To Schools: To popularise computer education in schools, the ministry of information technology, along with an NGO – BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) – will distribute free education software packages worth Rs. 35 million to 700 schools in Gujarat, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Of these schools, 611 are from Gujarat and 98 are from Vadodara alone. The gesture will benefit over 200,000 students. Each school will get a gift package, worth Rs. 50,000, of Microsoft educational software suitable for standard of classes VI to IX.

Remembering Aloke Puranik: In memory of Baroda's late artist Aloke Puranik his friends from the artist community have put together an exhibition, 'In Search Of Reminiscences', at Aakruti Gallery. Aloke, in his early twenties, was a budding sculptor and musician. The exhibition is on till September 2, 10.30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

MSU Professor Develops Shiitake Mushroom: The Shiitake mushroom, which has many medicinal values, was only available outside India, mostly in Japan and China. It is the costliest mushroom in the world. Dr. Arun Arya of MS University's Botany Department has now successfully cultivated Shiitake in controlled conditions in the laboratory. The XII World Forestry Congress to be held at Canada has asked him to present his research. Researchers in China and Japan have determined that extracts of Shiitake are effective against the viruses that cause Hepatitis B, AIDS and cancerous cells. Incidentally, the common misconception is that mushrooms are poisonous. However, only 10 % of the 10,000 species are poisonous. The rest are edible and very nutritious, containing large amounts of protein, fibre, minerals (including calcium), B vitamins and vitamin C.

GEB To Be Spilt Into 3 Companies: The Gujarat government has decided to split the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) into separate generation, transmission and distribution companies by the end of September. The official statement said that this did not entail privatisation. The generation function will go to the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd. More generation companies may be formed. Transmission will be transferred to Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation. All GEB transmission lines up to 66 KV and substations will be within the new company within one year. The distribution network will be split into four companies – for the northern, central, southern and western zones. All the companies will be subsidiaries of GEB (which will be transformed into a nodal company) with full-time managing directors.

AIDS Research At Ayurveda Hospital: Vadodara's RNP Ayurveda Hospital has received a grant of Rs.12 million from the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) to conduct research on the beneficial effects of an indigenous compound in the treatment of AIDS. This follows the successful completion of its three-month pilot project that was carried out as per the guidance of the World Health Organisation and the Gujarat AIDS Control Society. The hospital followed the international protocol in treating HIV patients. The effectiveness of the treatment is determined by the viral load, CDIV and CDVIII counts before and after the treatment. A NACO survey says that the number of AIDS patients in India will go up to 25 million by 2010, from the present figure of 400,000. The pilot project, funded by a Surat-based NGO (Sant Shree Mahakalpuri Ayurvedic Trust), studied the effects of the ayurvedic preparation on 23 HIV patients.

Power Theft By Home Owners: In its efforts to come down heavily on power thefts and the unscrupulous people and companies behind the malpractice, the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) has also begun looking at residential colonies and big houses with disproportionately low electricity bills. It seems that some home owners are tampering with electricity meters to slow them down. GEB has even released the names of people from Vadodara city who have been charged with power theft. It has checked connections at Alkapuri, Tarsali, Karelibaug, Behrampura, Makarpura, Gotri and Gorwa. Over 100 connections were checked and 27cases of theft were detected. Bills worth Rs. 262,000 were issued to the accused. Other culprits include a restaurant at Jetalpur Road, a sweetmeat shop in Raopura, a beauty parlour near Sharda Talkies, a laundry on Makarpura Road and two grocery stores at Makarpura and Kothi.

You Can See The Potholes Again: Rain-drenched Baroda has begun to dry up as the water starts to drain away from the roads. You can now easily see the potholes as you drive! The city saw less rain on Tuesday (26th) and the water in the Vishwamitri River and the Ajwa Lake went down to safer levels. The district administration began shifting evacuees back to their homes. Dam safety experts from Gandhinagar and the Gujarat Engineering Research Institute (GERI) visited the Ajwa Dam and said that the leaks were not of a serious nature. At .30 p.m. therefore all the 62 gates of the dam were closed by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (the gates had earlier been opened due to fears that the accumulation of water would worsen the leakage). The Vishwamitri was down to 23 feet, four feet below the extreme danger level, and the Ajwa reservoir was at a more comforting 211 feet.

Vishwamitri Calms Down: By Monday (25th) afternoon the rains eased up a bit and the Vishwamitri level slowly began to reduce. However, all the 62 gates of the Ajwa Dam were kept open, bringing the reservoir level down to 212 feet. More than 5,000 persons have been evacuated from the low-lying areas downstream of the Vishwamitri. Many of them have been accommodated in 13 municipal schools. District officials managed to plug at least five leaks on the Ajwa Dam by Sunday night. The leaks were caused mainly by rats which live along the entire stretch of the earthen dam. The holes (less than half an inch in radius) were noticed on the outer flow of the dam after they began to leak as the water level in the reservoir rose to 210 feet. Rats are a common problem with earthen dams. The only way to curb the problem is by keeping a constant watch over the structure and weeding the grass that generally grows along the rim. The Ajwa Dam, built in 1892 by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad, has an earthen embankment unlike the more recent dam constructions and a catchment area of 95 sq km fed by the Surya and Wagli rivers.

Rainfall In Gujarat Till 25th August
Till 25th August: 879.4 mm			Average Seasonal Rain: 800 mm
District-Wise Figures
District	Till 25th Aug (mm)	Seasonal Average (mm)	District	Till 25th Aug (mm)	Seasonal Average (mm)
Ahmedabad	603.2	633	Panchmahal	951.2	956
Anand	909.8	817	Patan	622.9	498
Banaskantha	635.2	585	Sabarkantha	729.8	789
Vadodara	857.0	928	Surat	1690.9	1372
Bharuch	624.9	820	Valsad	1937.7	1947
Dahod	705.8	826	Amreli	533.7	525
Dangs	1633.0	1955	Bhavnagar	631.1	570
Daman & DNH	1821.9	2142	Jamnagar	771.0	442
Gandhinagar	989.1	727	Junagadh	837.4	794
Kheda	899.0	834	Kutch	630.4	370
Mehsana	717.2	645	Porbander	744.2	631
Narmada	1045.4	1106	Rajkot	680.3	574
Navsari	1880.3	1789	Surendranagar	431.1	499

1954 MSU Architecture Batch Reunion: On the 50th anniversary of the first B.Arch class of 1954 of Kalabhavan, Faculty of Technology, MSU, we propose to come together for a Reunion Day some time in March-April 2004 at Hotel Sun & Sand, Mumbai. The reunion will be hosted by architect Suryakant Pawar. Interested alumni are requested to send their complete postal address to P.M. Apte, 302-E, Gurudarshan, 7-Samarthanagar, Andheri West, Mumbai 400 053 (Ph: 26311241, 26369101, Office 22185298, email apteyconsult@hotmail.com). We hope to have with us at the reunion two of our respected teachers N.S. Pingale and S.L. Patel. From Prakash M. Apte <apteyconsult@hotmail.com>

Rain Disrupts Life In Baroda: Heavy rains have lashed Gujarat during the last 24 hours. Baroda too is reeling under the onslaught and the usual areas are waterlogged. With both the major underbridges near the railway station becoming unusable because of the waterlogging, traffic has been thrown completely out of gear. A large number of people are confined to their homes and many others in the low-lying areas such as Kishanwadi and Sanjaynagar in the Warasia area have been evacuated to safety as the water level in the Vishwamitri continues to rise. Over 200 families were evacuated from Vadodara and Savli Taluka after 18 lakes overflowed. In Vadodara, the district administration was put on high alert following reports of leakages in at least three places in the Ajwa Reservoir. The leakage was however minor and safety experts and engineers camping in the area attended to it. The level of Ajwa reservoir was 212 feet, two feet below the danger level. By 2.30 p.m. on 24th August all the 62 gates of the Ajwa dam were opened and water was allowed to flow into the Vishwamitri river. More rains have been forecast for the next 24 hours and officials are keeping a tight vigil as the water level in the Vishwamitri River flowing through the city has gone up significantly. The river has touched 25.6 feet. The extreme danger level is 27 feet. Road and rail traffic in the state has also been affected. Several bus services have been cancelled, specially on the Vadodara-Waghodia and Vadodara-Savli routes. The intercity bus services between Ahmedabad and Vadodara were not cancelled, but the buses ran late. Bus service to Dabhoi was also affected. Many trains are running late. Air traffic has not been affected.

Nature Camp: The Gujarat office of World Wide Fund For Nature - India will organise a nature education camp at Panchmarhi in Madhya Pradesh from September 18 to 24. Trekking, rock climbing, nature trails, bird watching, plant identification and campfire will be the main attractions of the camp. Those interested may register before August 30 at WWF-India's Vadodara office.

Oxford Angreji Shabdakosh: A further 37 Indian words have pushed their way into the English language. The Oxford Dictionary of English has recently come out with its updated 353,000-word listing and it includes Indian imports such as udyog, murgh and chawal. Chowki is now English, dhoti is English, and so are vaid, tal, namak and palak. Now the dictionary offers a truer picture of English as it is used around the world. The updated dictionary also officially sanctions shrimati, sindoor, nagar, bhadralok, bhasha, nai, maha, mahurat and roko. And, yes, papad too.

Handicrafts Exhibition: Andhra Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation is holding an exclusive exhibition of handicrafts and handlooms at LMP Product Display Centre, Sayajigunj, from August 22 to September 3. The exhibition features cotton and silk saris from Pochampally, Gadwal, Siddpet, Chirala, Venkatgiri and dress materials from Chirala, Mangalgiri, Siddpet and Pochampally. Also featured are artistic metal ware, black metal castings, exquisite carvings in wood, banjara hand embroidery, crochet lace from Narsapur and Hyderabad pearls.

Botanical Garden Status For Sayajibaug: Did you know that Sayajibaug, the pride of Baroda's gardens, has a wide range of trees and ornamental plants? The largest garden in western India (and one of the seven largest public gardens in the country), Sayajibaug has over 100 species of trees and 75 species of ornamental plants. It was established in 1879 and spreads over 87 acres. The garden's first director, an Englishman by the name of Sir John Henry, had worked in the world famous Kew Botanical Gardens in London. Arun Arya, a botanist from MS University, has now released a video CD showing the wealth of flora in the garden. Arya's CD lists the botanical name, description and importance of the trees and plants. MSU botanists are suggesting that Sayajibaug be accorded the status of a botanical garden. Incidentally, it is also known as Kamatibaug, a name which derives from the Kamatti tribals who dwelled in the area.

Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya Course: The Baroda Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya has invited applications for the one-year postgraduate diploma course in Manuscriptology, Astrology, Vastu Shastra, Karmakanda, Vyavaharik Ayurveda, Rigveda, Yajurved, Samveda, Atharvaveda, Yoga and Puran. Candidates who have a BA (Shastri) or equivalent degree in Sanskrit are eligible for the course. Candidates with a degree in Fine Arts or History will be recommended as a special case. Admission forms will be available from September 1 to 30 from 10 a.m. to noon.

Table Furnishings: From August 22 to September 15, Ayatana is offering a new range of table furnishing from Yamini Creations – cotton tablecloths, solid cotton mats and napkins and formal table linen. Also available are a collection of co-coordinated fabrics, textiles for living rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms, bedspreads, cushion covers and curtains, and honeycomb weave towels in mix-and-match combinations.

IT Career Fair: The Alkapuri and Karelibaug centers of Jetking have organised a career fair on 23rd August for students who wish to make a career in the IT industry. The programme has been organised at the General Education Auditorium of MS University from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Instrumental Music Performances: Spic Macay's Baroda chapter has organised two programmes of classical Hindustani instrumental music. Ronu Majumdar will present a flute recital on August 25 and Grammy Award winner Vishwamohan Bhatt will present a recital of the modified guitar which he has named Mohan Veena on September 6. Both programmes will be held at 7 p.m. at the MS University Home Science Auditorium.

Classical Vocal Concert: Komal Nishad has organised a classical vocal concert of Ashwini Bhide Deshpande of the Jaipur Gharana at 9 p.m. on 23rd August at Hotel Surya Palace.

Rasikapriya Programme: Rasikapriya is an organisation devoted to spreading awareness about the rich traditions of Carnatic music. On August 24 it has organised a lecture demonstration of the Mridangam, a crucial accompanying instrument in both Carnatic classical music as well as classical dances such as Bharatanatyam. The demonstration will be given by Mridangam Vidwan P.S. Parmeswaran between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at the residence of K. Bhanumurthy, near Kedar Flats, Subhanpura. All interested persons are invited to attend.

Alembic To Set Up Unit In HP: To increase its formulations manufacturing capacity, Baroda's Rs. 5700-million drug manufacturer Alembic Chemicals Ltd. is injecting Rs. 260 million in setting up a new unit at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. Expected to be operational by the end of the year, the new formulations plant will be able to manufacture tablets as well as capsules. The decision to set up the plant follows the recent completion of the company's new active pharmaceutical ingredients and formulations manufacturing facilities at Panelav near Vadodara at a cost of Rs. 500 million.

Railway Division Gets Modern Medical Van: The Vadodara Division of the Western Railway has acquired a self-propelled accident relief medical van. The second in this sector after Jaipur, the medical van ensures quick, adequate and effective medical treatment to victims of train accident. It is equipped with modern facilities and has an operation theatre too. The two-coach van has a power-car coach and a medical coach. The power-car coach is equipped with oxyacetylene gas cutting equipment, which enables cutting of windowpanes and coaches to bring passengers out in an emergency. The coach also has a generator set for power generation, including air-conditioning for 3-4 days when the unit is to be sent to a remote site. There is an air-conditioned medical ward with 12 beds. The communication facilities comprise an internal GSM mobile exchange and digital cameras. There are 12 such self-propelled medical vans with the Indian Railways.

National Motocross: Baroda will shortly host a national motocross event after a gap of 14 years. The third leg of the MRF National Motocross will be held in the city on August 31. The leg at Vadodara is part of the championship that has six legs in all. The first two legs of the circuit were held at Pune and Jaipur. The event will see 150 participants from across the country battle it out in the Vadodara leg as well as consolidate their positions in the overall rankings. The design of the track, at the Akota Stadium, has been finalised and work is expected to begin soon. About 250 truckloads of soil will be used for the track.

Krishna In Art: The Sarjan Art Gallery has planned an exhibition – 'Krishna in Art' – displaying the ways in which Indian artists and craftspersons have depicted Krishna in the visual arts over the years. The exhibition will open on 24th August and continue till 6th September. The exhibition is divided into four categories: modern Indian artists such as M.F. Husain, Atul Dodiya, Amit Ambalal, Manjit Bawa and Haku Shah; artists from Gujarat in the first half of the 20th century such as Somalal Shah, Kumar Mangalsinhji, Khodidas Parmar, Kanu Desai and Vinay Trivedi; craft-based artworks; miniatures. The smallest painting at the exhibition will be a 4 inch x 4 inch Nathdwara miniature, and the largest will be an Atul Dodiya work measuring 6 feet X 4 feet.

Gold Festival: The Vadodara Jewellers Forum has organised a unique Gold Festival where customers have the opportunity to win a bumper prize of one kg gold and several other prizes. 38 prominent jewellery outlets in the city have participated in the festival. Totally there are 501 prizes to be won in weekly draws and finally there will be a mega draw. The festival, supported by the World Gold council, is on till 8th September.

Meteorological Park: Gujarat Nature Conservation Society has inaugurated a newly constructed meteorological park at Sindhrot. Five instruments have been installed to study and collect data about weather.

For Australia-Bound Students: Baroda Management Association (BMA) will arrange counselling sessions for admissions to Australian universities and colleges in diploma, undergraduates, postgraduate and doctorate courses for students in various fields like IT, Engineering Science, Education and Health, Business and Law, Media and Arts. Interested students may contact BMA between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on 21st and 28th August.

Bhupen Khakhar Passes Away: Internationally acclaimed artist Bhupen Khakhar passed away in Baroda on 8th August. He was 69. Born in Mumbai and a chartered accountant by training, he had settled in Baroda many years back and played a major role in putting the city on the world art map. He had also distinguished himself with his Gujarati writings (Maganlalno Gundar, Mochila Manilal). Above all, everyone who met him agreed that the man was a gentleman to the core. As a tribute to him, a month-long retrospective of his paintings will be held from October 1 in Mumbai.

Disturbance In Akota: Three persons were injured in rioting that broke out on 12th August in the Shivajipura locality of Akota area over a gambling dispute. A minor tiff over gambling snowballed into a riot as members of different groups were involved in the dispute. The police rushed to the spot, fired three rounds from revolvers and lobbed eight tear-gas shells to quickly bring a potentially dangerous situation under control. A policeman was injured after a 9 mm semiautomatic carbine of a police commando fired accidentally.

City Youngsters To Perform In Turkey: A group of young cultural ambassadors from Baroda will present glimpses of India at the International Harman Folklore Festival to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, between August 20 and 26. The festival is designed to promote world peace, friendship and love and it will have participants from 12 countries. Baroda's 24-member troupe will include students from various city schools. Students from Navrachna, Vidyani, Bhavan's, Rosary and Shreyas will present 14 folk dance forms of India along with some Hindi film songs.

MSU Study On Diets & Diabetics: MS University's Department of Foods & Nutrition has been redesignated as a WHO (World Health Organisation) collaborating centre for Anaemia Control and Diet Related Non-Communicable Diseases. The centre has recently compiled a list of the glycemic indices of 120 types of conventional Indian foods after 20 years of work in the field of 'diet and diabetics'. Over 500 varieties of food have been classified on the basis of the glycemic indices the world over, but there has been no study of the ethnic food types in India even though India leads the world in the number of diabetes patients. The MSU study may surprise some people. For instance: cuisine heavy in cereals like the Gujarati thali has a high glycemic index (80), whereas if you combine cereals with pulses and vegetables you can bring down the levels to as low as 60. The university plans to start a diet counselling centre where patients will be advised about diets for specific diseases.

Mahavir International Scholarships: The Vadodara Kendra of Mahavir International along with Mahavir Foundation Trust handed over scholarships worth Rs. 600 each to two toppers in Class 7 of all the 117 Vadodara Municipal Corporation schools. Mahavir International has announced another scholarship programme according to which Class 10 students from 40 schools will be helped financially.

Bodhi Women Weave: A collection of sarees, stoles, dupattas and yardage to match. This refreshing new collection is designed by Chelna Desai for Sally Holkar of 'Women Weave' (an NGO) and by the weavers of Maheshwar, an ancient town in Madhya Pradesh on the banks of the Narmada River. The preview of the collection will be on 6th August between 5 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. The collection will be available between 7th and 16th August at Bodhi.

Modern Art From Bengal: The new art season has opened at Sarjan Gallery with an ambitious exhibition, 'Modern Art From Bengal'. It features a selected group of representative artists spanning a range of artistic development in Bengal from the turn of the 19th century to the turn of the last one. The exhibition will continue till August 17 (12 noon to 8 p.m.). The artists: Binod Bihari Mukherjee, Ganesh Pyne, Hemen Mazumdar, Jayashree Chakravorty, K.G. Subramanyan, Nandlal Bose, Ram Kinker Baij, Shamal Dutta Ray, Shakti Burman.

Play Time: Stagecraft and Indu present 'Woh Tum Hi Ho', a comedy starring Shekhar Suman, at Gandhi Nagargruh. August 8. 9.30 p.m.

Musical Notes: Komal Nishad has invited music maestro Pandit Jasraj on August 2 for a performance at ONGC (Makarpura). 8 p.m. onwards.

Demat Account For Gold: Since keeping gold safely is a bit of a problem for many investors, Bank of Baroda has proposed a scheme to allow for the trading of gold in dematerialised form. The bank may allow people to open special accounts only for gold. Instead of buying the gold in the physical form, account holders can place their orders with the bank, which in turn will buy and sell gold from the market on their behalf. The account will be maintained in grams and whenever a request is made gold will be credited or debited from the account. This is similar to a demat account for shares. The draft of the scheme is ready and the bank will soon approach the Reserve Bank of India for clearance. Such a scheme will benefit people in Gujarat quite a lot (Ahmedabad alone accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the bullion trade in India till last year).

VMC To Sell Stray Pigs: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) seems to have arrived at a solution for the proliferating problem of stray pigs within the city. The corporation has decided to sell the stray pigs that are impounded daily to a Mumbai based buyer. The VMC pays Rs. 50 per pig to a Madurai based pig-catcher and 1,100 pigs have already been caught. These pigs are presently kept in a pound earmarked for this purpose at Atladra.

Cardiology Conclave: More than 400 cardiologists from all over India will be in Vadodara on August 2 and 3 to participate in a national conference organised by the Baroda Heart Institute. Heart experts from reputed hospitals such as Jaslok, Apollo and AIIMS will present papers at the conference. A session for the public has also been organised at the C.C. Mehta Auditorium; it will be addressed by renowned cardiologist Dr. A.V. Gupta from Mumbai.

Heavy Rains In Gujarat: As heavy rains continue to lash Gujarat, 33 of the total 184 irrigation dams in Gujarat are overflowing. Vadodara has had 21 inches of rain so far this season. The rainfall figures for some places in the district: Pavi Jetpur (609 mm); Dabhoi (1022 mm); Chhota Udepur (894 mm); Naswadi (871 mm); Padra (178 mm); Vadodara (524 mm); Waghodia (384 mm); Savli (546 mm); Shinor (413 mm); Sankheda (992 mm); Kawanth (592 mm).

New Sewage Treatment Plant: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a new sewage treatment plant at Gajrawadi on 26th July. The sewage plant has been built at a cost of Rs. 114 million and has a capacity of 66 million litres per day (MLD). The state-of-the-art plant has an inbuilt activated sludge processor, which can generate biogas that can be used to produce electricity. The city produces about 215 MLD of sewage water. Of this, only 124 MLD was treated until now and the rest was released into the Vishwamitri River. With the commissioning of the new plant around 190 MLD of sewage will now be treated. The VMC currently operates three sewage plants in the city – at Gajrawadi Zone 1, Atladra and Tarsali.

Heritage Walk: Following the success of the heritage walk introduced by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the Friends of Museum (FOM) Society are planning something similar in Vadodara. The idea is to create awareness about the city among residents. The heritage walk will have two routes – one within the Walled City and the other outside it. The walled city route will cover the pols as well as places like Juni Ghadi, Mairar No Wado, Fadnis Ni Wadi, the old mint, Amba Mata Ni Pol, Jumma Masjid (which has the largest Quran in Asia), Nyaymandir, Sursagar, Tambekar Wada, etc.

Student Bootlegger: A first year BA student of MS University was arrested for bootlegging by the Prevention of Crime Branch on 24th July. He was caught dealing in liquor worth Rs. 90,000. The student, originally from Haryana, stayed at a rented house on VIP Road in Karelibaug. The police recovered 303 bottles of liquor, a mobile phone and Rs. 2,100 from the student.

Garba Enthusiast Honoured: Barodian singer and garba enthusiast Malti Patel has been honoured with the Lions International Award for Cultural & Community Activities by the Lions International headquarters at Illinois, USA. The award recognises her contribution in compiling popular traditional and modern garbas in a book form for singers, dancers and garba lovers. She started her work in 1970 with a volume of 101 garbas, upgrading them to 251 now.

INSONA Office-Bearers: Mrunalini Puar was unanimously elected president of the International Society of Naturalists (INSONA) at its annual general body meeting held in the Environmental Temple at Motibaug on 24th July. The other office-bearers are M.S. Swaminathan and Anil R. Jain (vice presidents) and G.M. Oza (general secretary), Premlata Oza (joint secretary). The office-bearers and executive committee members have been elected for a period of two years.

Consumer Information Centre: Consumer Protection Council, Vadodara centre, will open an information centre at Nizampura on July 31 in collaboration with Senior Citizen's Association.

IIMM Chairman: R.S. Sodha, Managing Director, Chemtech Intermediate Pvt. Ltd., has been elected chairman of Indian Institute of Materials Management, Vadodara, for 2003-05 at its annual general meeting.

Art Of Living Courses: The Art of Living Courses will be held at Haribhakti Arogya Mandir (near Cash & Carry Lane), Divya Jyot Hall (Makarpura) and Kirti Mandir (opposite SSG Hospital) from July 29 to August 3 between 6.00 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. For registration and details, please visit 109, Radhakrishna Complex (A-Wing), Near Akota Garden, Akota, or call 2341804 and 5540138.

Exhibition Of Dress Materials: Nikita Zaveri and Sonali Zaveri have organised an exhibition-cum-sale of dress materials in Pochampalli, cottons and silk patolas from the South at the Trisha Art Gallery on July 28 and 29 between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

VRS Bonanza In City: So many of Baroda's large companies have recently offered voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) to their employees in the last two years that deposits in the postal department's monthly income scheme (MIS) have jumped over 10 times. The companies, which announced the schemes, are IPCL, IOC, ONGC, Bank of Baroda, Jyoti, Transpek, etc. At least Rs. 600,000 per head has been invested in MIS by people who have accepted VRS. Even investments in the National Savings Certificates (NSC) have gone up four-fold. MIS deposits in the postal department's Vadodara region rose from Rs. 518 million in 2000-2001 to Rs. 5,740 million in 2002 –2003. Investments in NSC rose from Rs.1453 million to Rs. 6879 million. The main reasons for the preference of MIS are:

- The failure of the co-operative banks in Gujarat
- There is no other monthly income scheme, except LIC's Varishta Bima Yojna, which gives high returns.
- The low rate of interest offered by the commercial banks.

Expansion At ABB Baroda: ABB India, the Indian wing of the Swiss-Swedish power and automation technologies group, will invest Rs. 350 million in six new product lines at its Baroda and Bangalore manufacturing facilities. The new product lines at the Bangalore unit will be in the field of low voltage switchgears, while the Baroda unit will have additional lines for high- and low-voltage electrical products. ABB has recently doubled its power transformer capacity at Baroda to over 5000 MVA, for which it has already pumped in Rs. 300 million. Its Baroda unit is its largest in India, with a workforce of around 1,000, and it has started exporting transformers to USA.

General Motors Pushes Ahead From Halol: General Motors India (GMI) plans to make 50,000 cars annually by 2005. The company has begun working two shifts at its Halol plant following the launch of Chevrolet Optra this month. The company, expecting to produce 25,000 passenger cars this year, has doubled the number of employees at Halol to over 900. It sold 8,500 cars last year. The Corsa range and Chevrolet Optra are expected to give the volumes, and Astra, Vectra and Forester will target the niche segments. GMI also plans to export to Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Barring Opel Vectra and Chevrolet Forester, all the models marketed by GMI are manufactured in India. The company has invested Rs. 12,000 million.

Railway Tickets On Internet: Indian Railways have announced that people may book tickets on the Internet <www.irctc.co.in>. Doorstep delivery of the tickets is assured. The cities covered in Gujarat are Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Baroda, Surat, Anand, Rajkot, Silvassa and Vapi. Multiple payment options are available.

Income-Tax Raids: The Income-Tax Department carried out raids in the premises of 11 doctors in Vadodara, Anand and Bharuch on 22nd July. Seven medicos in Vadodara and two each in Anand and Bharuch were targeted by the department during the raids. Sixty officers of the department conducted the raids simultaneously.

Science Centre Proposed: The response to the recently opened Science Park in Sayajibaug has been encouraging enough for the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) to think in terms of a more ambitious project. Mayor N.V. Patel has written to the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) suggesting the establishment of a Science Centre on the lines of the Visveswaraya Science Centre in Bangalore or the one in Kolkata. The estimated cost of the project is around Rs. 200 million.

Counting The Larries: Here is something for the statistically minded to consider. There are 2,309 licenced larries and about 3,405 unlicenced larries in Baroda. Administrative Ward No. 4, which includes the GIDC Makarpura area, tops the list of unlicenced larries at 998, while the licenced ones are merely 211. For the last five years, no licence has been issued for larrie-owners in this area! The Sayajigunj area, which falls in administrative Ward No. 6, accounts for nearly 522 unlicenced larries.

NGO's Organic Dabba: City based NGO Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti has set up an outlet to serve food prepared from organic raw materials only. The aim is to eliminate chemicals, trace metals and other harmful substances that find their way into the food we eat. The outlet, called Apna Dhaba, offers vegetarian tiffins on order. Its vegetables, dals, hand-pound rice and spices are grown by farmers and tribals who do not use synthetic fertilisers, hybrid seeds and pesticides and who still practice traditional and organic methods of food production. The lunch tiffins serve a seasonal vegetable, dal, rice, five rotis and salad for Rs. 45. Dinner comprises of a seasonal vegetable, khichdi, five rotis and salad for Rs. 25. Orders are accepted between 7 p.m. and 10.30 a.m. on 98982-53486 or 2334461.

Art Of Living Courses: Baroda's Vyakti Vikas Kendra will conduct Art of Living courses from July 22 to July 27 at Jeevan Darshan Hall, Near Lady Pilar Hospital, Fatehgunj, and Kirti Mandir, Opposite SSG Hospital, from 6 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. at Balvantrai Mehta Hall. It will also conduct Art of Excel course for children between 8 and 15 at GEB School, Old Padra Road, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya Courses: The Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya of MS University has begun admissions to Rigveda, Shukla Yajurveda, Krishna Yajurveda, Samveda Atharveda Puran, Karmakand, Jyotish Shastra, Dharmashastra, Vastushastra, Vyakarana Shastra, and Sahityashastra courses. Application forms will be available from the office between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The last date for the submission of application forms is July 31.

Inox Story 2: Following an undertaking given by the management of Inox multiplex, Baroda Police Commissioner Sudhir Sinha has reduced the license suspension period for the multiplex from 10 days to 3 days. The multiplex can resume movie shows from 19th July. See earlier story.

Kahani Kable Konnections Ki: According to the official figures, the number of cable TV connections in Vadodara city is only 75,000. Of course, this figure represents the total of the numbers reported by the individual cable operators. And not all cable operators report correctly, because they have to pay the government on the basis of their numbers. Waking up belatedly to this obvious ploy, the Vadodara district collectorate did a little survey on its own. The figure they have come up with is 117,111 cable TV connections. A more likely statistic seems to be that provided by the cable service providers, who claim that the count should be around 200,000. A majority of the 42,111 'illegal' connections were found in the old city areas – especially in Panigate, Yakutpura, Manjalpur, Wadi and Dandia Bazaar.

Rough Stuff At The Race Course: A dance programme, a little brawl that became large, and then there was some violence. Guess where it all began? At the Inox Multiplex! An unpleasant thing at a much hyped happening place. What with one thing and another, Inox has been asked by the authorities to suspend movie shows for ten days. There are apparently three complaints pertaining to the incident: one, that permission had not been taken to organise a dance on the premises; two, that the security guards did not attempt to intervene; three, that the multiplex did not inform the police regarding the incident. It seems that the spark was quite insignificant, but it somehow led later to a skirmish of quite menacing proportions at Akota before it was contained.

Getting After The Power Thieves: The Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) at Baroda now has its own police station, staffed by both ex-army personnel and policemen. Their job is to prevent the theft of electricity in five districts – Vadodara, Dahod, Panchmahals, Kheda and Anand. GEB's transmission and distribution losses are a massive 28.6 per cent, and it faces losses of up to Rs. 20,000 million. The police station's personnel will provide protection to GEB teams, which conduct raids to detect power thefts. During the past year, over 1.9 million connections were raided, 20,000 were found to be involved in theft and billed Rs. 2,300 million.

Sex Ratio Poor In Vadodara: It looks as if the 'Sanskari Nagari' too has some catching up to do with regard to its attitude toward the girl child. Gujarat's population growth between 1991 and 2001 was 22.3 per cent, above the national rate of 21.5 per cent. More worrying is the skewed male to female ratio: the national ratio is 927 females per 1000 males, but in Gujarat it is 919. For children below six years this ratio in Gujarat is still worse – only 878 females per 1000 males. The explanation for this lies in the attitude towards the girl child and the consequent proliferation of illegal sex determination clinics. The sex ratio is more adverse in the urban areas and in the affluent communities, areas where people can afford modern medical intervention. In areas which are economically not as affluent, the sex ratio is not as skewed. Some of the districts that fare poorly in the sex ratio for children below six years are Mehsana (798), Vadodara (875), Ahmedabad (814), Gandhinagar (816), Surat (872) and Rajkot (853). The sex ratio is better in tribal societies where the girl child is considered an asset due to the prevailing social customs. In Panchmahals the sex ratio is 939, in Banaskantha it is 931 and in Dangs it is 986.

Heavy Rain Throws City Out Of Gear: Heavy rains and strong winds caught Barodians by surprise on Friday, but what was not surprising was that many roads in the city were hopelessly waterlogged. Traffic was disrupted in Nyaya Mandir, Raopura, Nagarwada, Race Course and Gorwa. The railway station area and Alkapuri also witnessed traffic jams as a number of vehicles broke down in knee-deep water. Of course, both the underbridges near the railway station were not negotiable for a few hours. However, what's new about all this? Nothing whatsoever. The scene repeats itself every year. We yearn for the rains, and when they do come Baroda is overwhelmed. When will we get to really enjoy the monsoons in this city?

On The Stage:
Resham Dankh: Directed by Homi Wadia, with Sujata Mehta in the lead role. At Mahatma Gandhinagar Gruh at 9.30 p.m. on July 15.
Prem No Public Issue: A comedy, directed by Siddharth Randeriya. At Mahatma Gandhinagar Gruh at 9.30 p.m. on July 16.
Natu I Love You: A comedy, with Deven Bhojani and Vaishali Thakkar. At Mahatma Gandhinagar Gruh at 9.30 p.m. on July 20, 21, 22.
Ame Lai Gaya Tame Rahi Gaya: At Mahatma Gandhinagar Gruh at 9.30 p.m. on July 24.
Tum Rootha Na Karo: Noted actor Shakti Kapoor's play. Tum Rootha Na Karo. At Mahatma Gandhinagar Gruh at 9.30 p.m. on July 26.

Mumbai Glassgow Print Exhibition: British Council, Cymroza Art Gallery and MS University's Faculty of Fine Arts are holding the Mumbai Glassgow print exhibition up to July 16 at the Faculty of Fine Arts from 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. The event showcases the works of British and Indian printmakers who participated in the Glassgow Print Studio and Sir JJ School of Arts programme.

Musical Conference: Swar Vilas and United Way of Vadodara have organised a musical conference for upcoming classical vocalists below the age of 30 on August 24. Aspirants can present recorded audiocassettes to B.V. Marathe before August 1.

Punjabi Cultural Programme: Northern India Cultural Association presents the Raunuan Punjab Dian with a programme of Punjabi folk dances, gidda, bhangra and songs led by Tanvinder Arora. General Education Auditorium, 8.00 p.m., July 19.

Toy Making Programme: Community Science Centre, Vadodara, will conduct 'Scientific Toy Making' and 'Science Projects' programmes for students of classes 2 to 10 every Saturday. Swati Badekar will conduct this programme. For details ring 2389749.

Adventure Camp: Harmony Nature Adventure Club of Vadodara will organise the Leh-Ladakh adventure trail from July 28 to August 13.

Deccan Odyssey Will Overtake Palace On Wheels: The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation is getting itself a luxurious Rs. 320-million, 21-coach train which may overshadow Rajasthan's popular Palace On Wheels. Take a look at some of the features: An airconditioning system that allows temperatures to be regulated inside cabins; Six-channel music system; Closed-circuit TV; Provision for mobile phone connection and Internet surfing; Conference car; Sauna, gymnasium, massage rooms; Yoga and meditation area.

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Perambur is busy working on the train's 13 passenger cars, two generator cars, two restaurant cars, conference car, bar car, staff car and health car. The train is expected to begin its trial run in August and go commercial by October. What will this cost the tourist? A cool $2,500, or Rs. 110,000, for a seven-day trip through Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Goa, Pune, Aurangabad, Jalgaon and Nasik. The fare includes food and entry charges into tourist spots.

Deodorants In A Dry State: Thanks to the prohibition laws, Gujarat restricts the entry of alcohol-containing medicines and toiletries. Alcohol-based deodorants and colognes need a licence from the excise and prohibition department before they are allowed in. The process of getting a licence is complicated, and this becomes an excuse for some retailers to smuggle the goods in.

IPCL Offers VRS to 1550 Employees: Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (IPCL) has reduced its workforce by offering a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to 1,550 employees at a cost of Rs. 1,200 million. The workforce is down from 13,150 to 11,600. The VRS payment is equivalent to two months' salary for each completed year of service or two months' salary for each month of service left, whichever is less. IPCL had been taken over by Reliance Industries in June 2002 by acquiring the government's 26 per cent stake for about Rs. 14,900 million.

Baroda's Royal Dispute: With the will of the late Rajmata Shantadevi Gaekwad becoming public, the dispute in the Gaekwad royal family of Baroda has taken another turn. Shantadevi's youngest son, Sangramsinh, says that the will has not been executed as per the provisions of the law. A Vadodara civil court has ordered Ranjitsinh, his sister and MS University chancellor Mrunalinidevi Puar and his son Samarjitsinh to maintain a status quo on all the properties of the royal family till July 9. Thus, even the exhibition grounds cannot be rented out. In a case filed in the High Court in 1991, Sangramsinh had questioned Shantadevi's right to draw up a will in the first place, maintaining that they are not governed by the Hindu Succession Act and that their family custom does not allow women to inherit property. According to the petition made by Sangramsinh, the Hindu Succession Act, by which property can pass onto heirs, irrespective of whether they are male or female, does not apply to Shantadevi's case as Fatehsinhrao's property came under the purview of the agreement of merger. Fatehsinhrao was the last king of the Baroda State before it acceded to the Indian Union. Mrunalinidevi Puar is the eldest in the family, and Ranjitsinh is the eldest male member of the family. At stake in the dispute is the vast amount of moveable and immovable property that the family controls, including the Laxmi Vilas Palace and its 707 acres of land at Baroda. There is also the Nazarbaug Palace at Baroda, which is of course in urgent need of repairs. The family owns innumerable precious stones in the crown and invaluable diamonds like the 'Star of the South' and 'The Akbar Shah'. Another high-value possession is the Meherangadh Palace on the Juhu-Tara Road in Mumbai; the cost of the land itself is estimated to be more than Rs. 1,000 million. The value of the heirloom jewellery of the family may be over Rs. Rs. 50 million. And one should of course not forget the full armoury of weapons, the golden and silver cannons, the royal buggy, numerous antiques, paintings from the Renaissance Period and paintings of the famous painter Raja Ravi Verma.

Taj Takes Over Tropicana: As part of its expansion strategy, Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces has entered into a management contract with the Tropicana Hotel and Convention Centre in Vadodara to take over its day-to-day operations. The hotel has been renamed Taj Residency, Vadodara, and will be part of the Taj Business Hotels.

Glimpse Of African Art: An exhibition of African artefacts will be held at Yamini (Aayatna) on July 11-12. Collectibles like masks, salad bowls, candle stands, napkin rings, etc., will be on sale.

Memorial Play: Bhumika Art Circle will stage a special show Mahanirvan by prominent playwright Satish Alekar in memory of popular theatre personality the late Yashwant Kelkar at Mahatma Gandhi Nagargruh on July 10. The play is directed by Prabhakar Dabhade.

Innovative Anti-Malaria Measure: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has stepped up its anti-mosquito measures in the malaria-prone monsoon months. It is now releasing fish which prey on the insect's larvae in ponds and waterlogged areas. VMC has also begun a drive to remove waste tyres, whose dark, hollow spaces are favoured breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The civic body will also increase vegetation to prevent water stagnation. This is a major change from the earlier practice of spraying MLO (mosquito larvecite oil) to prevent mosquito breeding. The fish being released in the waterlogged areas are of the gumpuscia variety, taken from Sursagar Lake, where they are found in plenty.

Biotech Park At Savli: The Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) is setting up the Gujarat Bio-tech Park at Vadodara, eight km from the National Highway, in the Savli industrial estate at Manjusar village. The Rs. 540 million project, spread over 90 hectares, will concentrate on the pharmaceutical sector. Its major feature will be the incubator blocks which can be used by entrepreneurs to carry out research and development activities. MS University of Baroda will be associated with this park and some internationally acclaimed university may also participate in future.

Bunking Ban At MSU: MS University has decided to make 80 per cent attendance in lectures compulsory. Those failing to maintain the same will not be allowed to sit in the examinations. This decision was taken at a recent deans' meeting. The university already has an ordinance regarding attendance norms, but it has not been enforced effectively. It was also decided to make internal examinations compulsory for all the students.

Central Status Proposed For MSU: The MS University vice chancellor has proposed that MSU can improve its financial situation if it were to be upgraded to a central university. Such a status would need to be conferred by an Act of Parliament and it would then bring MSU under the direct supervision of India's Ministry of Human Resources through the UGC (University Grants Commission). This would transfer the financial liabilities of the university, roughly Rs. 600 million per year, to the Central Government. Besides, the status of a central university has its own prestige. The President of India would then become a visitor at the university, instead of the Gujarat Governor as is the practice now. But it is feared in certain quarters that if the proposal is accepted the local character of the university may be compromised. The proposal will first be presented to all MSU deans and department heads and later to the university senate and the syndicate. Fourteen Indian universities currently have the status of a central university. These include Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Hyderabad University, Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia University.

Alembic's Sets Up Contract Research Division: To step up its contract research business Baroda's Alembic has set up a separate division – BioArc Research Solutions – to focus on providing research and development services to multinational pharmaceutical companies. The new division will employ 150 scientists and involve an initial investment of Rs. 150 million. BioArc will provide services in synthetic organic chemistry, process chemistry at gram to kilogram levels, custom synthesis, impurity isolation and synthesis, analytical chemistry and formulation development. Alembic has recently entered into a contract research agreement with Chiron Corporation, Emeryville, California, to offer its expertise offered in heterocyclic chemistry. Following up on Alembic's research, Chiron is expected to develop new drugs for different therapeutic segments.

Furniture Exhibition: A three-day exhibition to Rajasthani handicrafts and furniture of the Amiti India Bazar will be organised at the Sienna Gallery, Alkapuri, from July 11. The attraction of the exhibition will be a range of bullock-cart furniture items made from old bullock-cart parts.

VMC Gas Wing Considers Corporatisation: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) is thinking about handing over its gas distribution network to an autonomous corporation or a public limited company. The need to corporatise the gas department arose after private players like the Adanis obtained permission from the Gujarat industry ministry for setting up their operations in the city. VMC has not really been able to meet the demand of potential customers living on the outskirts of the city. Over 15,000 applications for new gas connections have been received, most of them from areas like Gotri, Manjalpur, GIDC Makarpura and Waghodia Road. The VMC gas department was established in 1968. The civic body buys gas at Rs. 3.90 per unit and its supply cost is Rs. 4.90 per unit. It has 64,000 domestic customers and 2,200 commercial customers.

Painters' Camp: A weeklong painters' camp will begin at Bungalow 1/3, Gujarat Refinery Township, on July 7. Sponsored by Gujarat Refinery, the camp will feature six artists – Indrapramit Roy, Subha De, Sashidharan, Jitendrasingh Baoni, Sumati Gangopadhyay and digital artist Rahul Gajjar. Three senior artists – Gulam Mohammad Sheikh, Vinod Shah and Ranjitsinh Gaekwad – will also attend the camp for a day and create a drawing or a painting. The camp will continue till July 13 and will be open every day between 6 and 7.30 p.m. for art students, friends and interested members of the general public to interact with the artists. On the evening of July 13, an informal exhibition of the works created during the camp will be held at the camp venue.

Handpainted Tops Exhibition: An exhibition of handpainted tops will be held at 3, Bell E Vista Complex, Race Course Circle, from July 9 to 11. The tops with creatives of Madhubani and Warli designs have been prepared by young school students.

Deliciously South: A food festival showcasing the authentic cuisine of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, at Taj Residency, July 4 to 20. With master chefs from Taj Residency, Ernakulum, and Taj Coromandel, Chennai. A la Carte for lunch, buffets for dinner.

Corn Festival: Makai Utsav is on at Havmor Restaurant, Sayajigunj. The delicacies include sweet corn rainbow soup, corn chatpata, minicorn on the cob, stir fried corn with burnt ginger and garlic.

Speakers' Forum: To encourage, develop and sharpen the art of public speaking, the Baroda Management Association (BMA) has started a 'Speakers Forum'. Participants can contact BMA on phone no. 2330632 or 2344135 or email bmal@d2visp.com.

Principals' Seminar: In order to promote environment education and create nature conservation awareness, the Gujarat Nature Conservation Society (GNCS) has organised a 'Principals' Meet' on July 11 for the heads of secondary schools. The seminar will be held at Nature Education Park, Near Shram Mandir, Sindhrot, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Principals can register their participation before July 9 on phone no. 2888019.

Import-Export Course: Indian Institute of Export Society will begin a four-month postgraduate diploma course in export-import management from July 21. Interested persons should contact the society's office at Sayajigunj.

Corrosion Control Congress: The National Corrosion Council of India (NCCI), MS University of Baroda and the Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI) will hold the 11th National Congress on Corrosion Control from July 17 to 19 at Taj Residency, Baroda. About 150 research papers will be presented and an exhibition of the manufacturers, dealers, and suppliers of products, instruments and books will be arranged.

Seminar For Umpires: The Baroda Cricket Association will organize a three-day seminar for umpires of the association at Hotel Surya Palace from July 18 to 20. The seminar will be followed by a qualifying examination conducted by faculty members belonging to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

MSU-Industry Interaction: The Federation of Gujarat Industries (FGI) and MS University's Faculty of Technology & Engineering (FTE) have joined hands to explore the possibilities of mutual cooperation. They have formed an 'Industry Institution Interaction' (III) cell at the faculty. The idea is to provide a platform that could institutionalise research and innovation in a laboratory set-up. The cell will have a core team and five sub-committees focussing on specific issues such as resource mobilistion, research and consultancy, student training and projects, faculty enhancement and publicity of the work.

Khaki Banned For Private Guards: The Baroda police has issued a notification banning the personnel of private security agencies from wearing khaki uniforms with immediate effect. Police commissioner S.K. Sinha said that the reason behind the ban is that ordinary citizens were often misled into believing that private security guards in khaki were policemen. The ban order was issued after three private securitymen barged into a house along with an NRI who had hired them for his personal security.

NSIC Office Opened: The National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) has opened a sub-office in Vadodara in the premises of the Federation of Small Scale Industries (Palace Plaza, Lalbaug Road). Vikash Goyal, business development manager of NSIC, will take charge of the Vadodara office with immediate effect.

Tough Times For SSI Units: Figures available with the District Industries Centre (DIC) at Vadodara reveal that about 40 per cent of the small-scale industries (SSIs) in the region have shut down in the last three years. A preliminary DIC survey for the Development Commissioner (SSI), New Delhi, shows that of the 11,431 units in the district, 4,450 have shut down in the last three years. Around 6,103 units are still functional, while 869 either did not respond to the survey or provided insufficient data. The DIC also surveyed large-scale and medium-scale units in 2001, and found that 67 of the 260 units had shut shop in the region while 10 had not responded. Vadodara taluka was the worst affected; 37 of the 137 units had closed down.

New Town Hall Proposed: The Gandhinagar Gruh at Baroda may soon face competition, of sorts. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) plans to build a new town hall, spread over 15,000 square metres, at Atladra. With a capacity to accommodate 2,000 persons, the town hall will have a parking facility for 700 cars. The proposal is to invite private developers on a BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) basis. The centre will cater to theatre and music lovers. It will also have a multimedia section large enough to organise a full-fledged film festival. Gandhinagar Gruh was built in 1956 for a city with a population of 250,000. The city now needs a facility more suitable for a population of 1.5 million.

Hospital Receptionist Course: Ambalal Sarabhai Foundation and Indian Hospital Association will start a three-week short-term course for hospital receptionists from 7th July. Interested candidates should have passed the class 12 examinations. For details, contact the foundation office at Bombay Shopping Centre on Race Course Road, Vadodara, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Reviving The Sindhi Language: Did you know that the National Council for the Preservation of Sindhi Language (NCPSL) has its headquarters in Vadodara? NCPSL was set up in 1994 to make knowledge available in Sindhi. It has recently started Sindhi classes in Baroda. Seventy such classes are running all over India about 750 students have enrolled. Along with Urdu and Sanskrit, Sindhi is in a sense a 'stateless' language since the community is scattered across the country. It also lacks the 'critical mass' of people to support its readership. There would be few persons below 50 who can read and write the language. Speaking comes more easily. Some people suggest that the script should be changed in order to save the language, perhaps reverting to the Devnagari script that was used before the Arabic script was adopted.

Poor SSC Results In Gujarat: The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board declared the SSC results on 16th June. Only 42.97 % of the students passed the SSC examination held in March 2003, compared to the 56.92 % success rate last year. Of the 642,110 students who appeared in Gujarat for the examination, only 275,927 passed. The result would have been worse had the Gujarat government not reduced the passing marks from 40 to 35 %. Grace marks helped about 20,000 students to pass the exams.

… Ahmedabad's Amar Suri (Shree Vidyanagar High School) is the state topper with 95.43 % marks.
… Students of Ahmedabad and Vadodara bagged 11 slots each of the first 32 places in the state merit list.
… Of the 32 students who made it to the top 10 of the state, 15 are boys and 17 are girls.
… The highest result was 96.56 %, at the Vana centre in Surendranagar district, while the lowest was 0.58 %, at Indran in Sabarkantha.
… District-wise, Diu recorded the highest result (94.74%) while Sabarkantha the poorest (19.16%).
… English-medium students performed the best; of the 20,750 students who appeared, 18,824 passed (90.72%). Gujarati-medium students performed the worst; only 217,849 students passed out of the 462,971 who appeared (47.05%).
… The visually challenged students of the Blind People's Association have recorded 90% result; of the28 students who appeared, eight secured first class and 14 secured second class.

Baroda's SSC Results: While 27,654 students from Vadodara city appeared for the exam, only 15,089 students passed the exam. In Vadodara city, the pass percentage was 53.66, which included seven centers – Alkapuri, Sayajigunj, Raopura, Mandvi, Karelibaug, Makarpura and Bajwa. In rural areas – Bodeli, Chhotaudepur, Dabhoi, Desar, Padra, Sankheda, Savli, Shinhor, Waghodia, Pavi-Jetpur, Navsari, Masar Road, Mobha, Bhadarva, Varnama, Chalamali, Kawant – the pass percentage was 28.83. The overall pass percentage in Vadodara district was 43.75.

1. Shruti Choksi, Bright Day School (Gujarati Medium) (95%)
2. Palak Vaishnav, Vidya Vihar School (94.71%)
3. Bela Patel, Kelavani Trust Vidyalaya (94.14%)
3. Neetha Menon, Convent of Jesus & Mary (94.14%)
3. Ankit Shah, Sardar Vinay Mandir (94.14%)
3. Chintan Tailor, Lal Bahadur Shastri Vidyalaya (94.14%)
4. Siddharth Patel, Alembic Vidyalaya (94.00%)
4. Priyanka Desai, Bright English School (Gujarati Medium) (94.00%)
5. Kathan Mehta, Vidya Vihar High School (93.86%)
5. Darshana Patel, Fertilizernagar School (93.86%)
5. Milan Sheth, Heavan Vidyalaya, Waghodia (93.86%)
6. Prarthi Shah, Bright English School (English Medium) (93.71%)
6. Bhumi Agarwal, Auxilium Convent High School (93.71%)
7. Dharamrajsinh Atodaria, Utkarsh Vidyalaya (93.57%)
7. Zalak Majmudar,Kelavani Trust Vidyalaya (93.57%)
8. Chinmay Pathak, Sardar Vallabh Vidyalaya (93.43%)
8. Hetal Prajapati, Lal Bahadur Shastri Vidyalaya (93.43%)
8. Richi Shah, Bright Day School (Gujarati Medium) (93.43%)
8. Sanket Mehta, Little Flower School (93.43%)
9. Maulikkumar Panchal, Alembic Vidyalaya (93.29%)
9. Prutha Desai, University Experimental School (93.29%)
9. Mital Parikh, Bright English School (English Medium) (93.29%)
10. Akash Shah, Jeevan Sadhana High School (93.14%)
10. Manan Shah, Jeevan Sadhana High School (93.14%)

Tribal Handicraft Shop: The Gujarat State Forest Development Corporation Limited (GSFDCL) has quite successfully marketed honey and several herbal products. The corporation is attempting to diversify into the marketing of tribal handicraft. GSFDCL's regional branch in Baroda has proposed the setting up of a shop to market tribal products with the assistance of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Tribal Co-operative Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED). The articles that may be sold include tribal metal craft, textiles, jewellery, cane and bamboo works, terracotta, stone pottery and tribal paintings.

Rare Books Donated To Music College: The late Shri Vibhukumar S. Desai was an eminent musicologist who wrote several books and articles on music. His son, the late Shri Rajnikant V. Desai, was the disciple of the great Ustad Faiyyaz Khan and an eminent vocalist of the Agra Gharana. He was also for a short while the principle of the Music College at Baroda. He spent more time at Mumbai where he was Head of the Department of Music at SNDT College. His children, the noted Kathak exponent Geetanjali Lal and sitarist Himanshu, have now donated their grandfather's and father's priceless collection of over 50 rare books on music to the library of MS University's Faculty of Performing Arts. The collection has books on the history of Indian music dating back to the 13th century AD.

Gemini Circus: From 20th June. At Exhibition Ground, Near Kirti Stambh. Daily 3 Shows: 1.00, 4.00 and 7.00 p.m. Phone: 5545536

Exhibition Of Kurtis: Anayas presents an exhibition-cum-sale of Lucknowi kurtis in pastel shades at the Trisha Art Gallery, Jetalpur Road, on June 23-24, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Cost Cutting Workshop: A workshop on cost reduction techniques will be organised on July 12 by the Baroda Management Association at the Taj Residency Hotel. The programme will discuss various aspects of cost reduction by upgrading functional skills, improving waste management, sales costs, logistics, marketing and advertising costs.

Rains, At last: Pre-monsoon showers made a brief but welcome entry into various parts of Baroda on 15th June. The official jargon said that the showers were caused by a localised build-up of 'charlie bravo clouds' or 'nimbo cumulus clouds'. The amount of rainfall was low, about 1 to 2 mm. The maximum was in Sayajigunj. No rain was reported from the airport area, where incidentally the met department measures the rain.

Dr. Pathak Is Medical College Dean: Superintendent of SSG Hospital, Dr. Kamal Pathak, has moved to Baroda Medical College (BMC) as its dean. The dean's post was vacant after Dr. D.N. Shah retired six months back. Dr. Pathak was superintendent of SSG Hospital for six years. His post has now taken up Dr. A.K. Shah, Head of the Department of Radiology at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.

Unity Hospital Inaugurated: Over 100 consultant doctors are associated with the newly set up Unity Hospital which was inaugurated at Baroda on 15th June 15 by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The hospital's specialised facilites include hi-tech operation theatres with laminar airflow, ICUs and a burns ICU. The 125-bed hospital is managed as well as owned by doctors. Located near Race Course Circle, the hospital building has been designed by architect Suryakant Patel. It has a special auditorium for medical seminars and conferences.

Re-union of Vidya Kunj Alumni In August 2003: I studied at Vidya Kunj High School (1972-78). I left lots of friends out there in Baroda. I have been living in NW London since then. My brothers Mukesh and Kamlesh used to study at Vidya Kunj too. We were one of the very first batches of students who moved from the old school (the Red building) to the new building by the riverside. School times were great in the monsoon season as we enjoyed an extra day off from school due to the floods! There is a re-union of Vidya Kunj pupils in August 2003. Everyone who attended the school is invited!

Global Pot Pourri: Hotel Surya Palace has introduced 'Global Pot Pourri', an elaborate choice of cuisines from across the globe for the festive Sunday buffet lunch at its City Square restaurant. The menu includes Mexican, Italian, Lebanese, Chinese, Thai and Punjabi dishes.

MSU's Russian Philology Programme: Knowledge of the Russian language is increasingly in demand. A substantial portion of the research and development activities in the Indian armed forces is dependent on it. And it plays a prominent role in tourism, intelligence gathering, hotel management and data interpretation in companies with Russian collaborations. To cater to this demand MS University is planning to start a master's programme in Russian Philology. MSU started its Russian courses as early as in 1952. The MA in Russian Philology will begin from this academic year, thus making MSU the second university (after Jawaharlal Nehru University) in India to offer a postgraduate degree in the language. Russian engineers, who are in Baroda on a deputation to the Gujarat government to lay a gas pipeline, have offered to teach this course to MSU students. The Russian Language Department of MSU has between 65 and 80 students every year. The graduates have found jobs in organisations such as ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), the Indian armed forces and Gujarat Electricity Board and companies such as Sarabhai Chemicals, ONGC, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Transpek Industries.

MSU Fee Hike: MS University has received a Gujarat government resolution which raises the fees for the Arts, Commerce, Science, Education and Law courses in grant-in-aid and government colleges of the state. A hike of 50 to 210 per cent will be effected. The new fee for the Arts, Commerce and Science faculties will be Rs. 600 per term as against the present fess of Rs. 400 per term. The rise will be the highest in the Law and Education faculties where it will be raised to Rs. 900 and Rs. 1,250 per term from the existing Rs. 400.

Books Exhibition: June 9 to 11. 10.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. Exhibition-cum-sale of books on Indian literature, published by the Sahitya Academy, National Book Trust, Bhartiya Gyanpith and Seagull Publications. At 'Samas', Bhasha Research Centre, Near Dinesh Mills.

GM's Optra Rolls Out At Halol: General Motors India Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of US automaker General Motors, rolled out its first indigenously manufactured Chevrolet model – the Optra – on 6th June at Halol near Baroda. The company has so far invested Rs. 9,250 million in its Indian operations at Halol and plans to increase it to Rs. 13,800 million by March 2004. In 2002 it sold 8,648cars.

Kathi Rolls Festival: At Mirch Masala. Kathis are thin, soft roomali rotis rolled with stuffing.

Ghazal Programme: Komal Nishad will organise a ghazal programme of Ustad Ahmed Hussain and Mohamed Hussain on 9th June at 7.30 p.m. at Trimline Club, Munjmahuda, Old Padra Road. The concert has been organised to commemorate late Ustad Afzal Hussain, the father and the teacher of the Hussain duo.

HSC General Stream Results: The HSC general stream results declared on 5th June were not particularly pleasant.

Only 63.49 % of the students passed, the worst results in 12 years. Out of 319,704 students who appeared from 209 centres in Gujarat, only 201,698 passed. The state topper is Jaina Shah of St. Xavier's High School (Ahmedabad) with 91 %, followed by Jiten Mehta of Sardar Patel & Swami Vivekananda High School (Ahmedabad) with 90.33 % and Gayatri Joshi of Maharani Chimnabai High School (Baroda) with 90.17 %. Of the 26 state toppers 19 are girls. District-wise, 235 out of the 358 toppers are girls. The highest pass rate was for Sindhi medium students (92.87 %), followed by English medium (82.89 %) and Gujarati medium (64.53 %).

In Baroda girls bagged 12 of the 17 top positions. The overall pass percentage was 55.15 % (53.29 % in the district and 60.01 % in the city). Only 8226 of the 13,699 Baroda city students passed. Two HSC students Baroda attempted suicide, fearing poor results. Both were admitted to the SSG Hospital and they are reportedly out of danger.

The Baroda toppers: 1. Gayatri Joshi (Maharani Chimnabai High School); 2. Richa Bhandari (Tejas Vidyalaya; 3. Pratiti Diwan (Alembic Vidyalaya) and Shanu Gupta (Tejas Vidyalaya); 4. Mukesh Khilwani (Shri Ladharam Sind Hindu High School) and Neha Upadhyay (Tejas Vidyalaya); 5. Kesha Zaveri (Jeevan Sadhana Gujarati Medium School) and Varsha Sachdev (Hari Shewa Higher Secondary Girls Vidyalaya); 6. Ashok Kukreja (Shri Ladharam Sind Hindu High School); 7. Hemlatta Agrawal (Kelvani Trust Vidyalaya); 8. Komal Chhabria (Hari Shewa Higher Secondary Girls Vidyalaya); 9. Hetal Soni (P.P. Shroff High School), Zenabbibi Irzada (Sardar Vallabhbhai Vidyalaya), Jayesh Dhanani (Shri Ladharam Sind Hindu High School) and Dhirvirsinh Parmar (Shri Gayatri Vidyalaya); 10. Parul Patel (Fertilizer Nagar Shala) and Unnati Sheth (Tejas Vidyalaya).

Magic Shows: Famous magician K. Lal will perform at Gandhinagar Gruh from June 6. Daily 9.30 p.m. Sundays 4 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.

Mohini Attam Performance: The Ayyappa Temple at Sama is celebrating its Prathistha Dinam with a 3-day festival from June 7 to 9. On 7th June a Mohini Attam performance will be presented by Ayswaria Wariar and her two students. Ms Wariar has started a dance school in Baroda and teaches Bharata Natyam and Mohini Attam.

Taj's Midnight Buffet: Taj Residency Hotel has introduced a buffet between midnight and 2.30 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Accompanied by live music.

Retirement Planning Workshop: Baroda Management Association (BMA) will organise a six-day evening workshop from June 23 on 'Planning after VRS and retirement'. The workshop will cover finance, emotional aspects, health, diseases, nutrition, and diet. For registration please ring up 2330632, 2332919.

'Temple' For Environment Enthusiasts: The International Society of Naturalists (INSONA), a Baroda based NGO, plans to set up a 'temple' dedicated to the environment. INSONA General Secretary Gunvant Oza says that it will basically be a centre for environment related issues and have a library, seminar and conference room and a botanical park. The NGO hopes that it will become a pilgrimage and education centre for environment enthusiasts, children and educationists. The facility, which will come up on the grounds adjoining the Motibaug Palace, will cost Rs. 10 million and will be inaugurated on World Environment Day on June 5. It will have a small deciduous forest with species brought from the jungles of Panchmahal, Chotaudepur and Jambughoda. The plantation will begin during the monsoon.

SSG Hospital Expansion: Baroda's Sir Sayajirao General Hospital (SSG) plans to increase its bed capacity from 1,088 to 1,500 to cater to the growing number of patients from within Gujarat state and outside. SSG caters to 1,168 outpatients and 1023 in-patients daily. The hospital, linked to the Baroda Medical College, has an annual allocation of Rs. 210 million – 60 % of which is spent on salaries.

Communication Workshop: The Ambalal Sarabhai Foundation will organise a communication workshop for children above 12 years. Those interested can register at the Foundation office at Bombay Shopping Centre, R.C. Dutt Road, from 16th June.

Tennis Tournament: An eight-day tennis event – MPC Gymkhana Open Gujarat Major Ranking Tennis Tournament – will be held at Polo Club from June 10. Entry forms are available at the tennis academy at Akota Stadium and at Polo Club. Students from Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Gandhinagar will also participate.

New VMC Chief: Mr. G.P. Joshi (IAS) has taken over as the Commissioner of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) from 2nd June. VMC was without a full-time commissioner for almost one year, and the Vadodara District Collector was holding additional charge of this post. An IAS officer of the 1978 batch, his last posting was as Managing Director of Gujarat State Financial Corporation Limited. Apart from being Principal Secretary to the Gujarat Governor, he has also worked as Managing Director of Gujarat Water Infrastructure Ltd.

Hi-Tech Cricket Gymnasium: The Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) has proposed to construct a hi-technology gymnasium with modern training equipment at the Motibaug Cricket Ground. It should be operational by the end of June. Kiran More, the BCA Secretary, said that the equipment has been purchased after a recommendation from the National Cricket Academy. The gymnasium will be centrally air-conditioned.

HSC General Stream Results: Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board will declare the HSC General Stream results on 5th June. The results, which will include the results of Commerce, Arts, Basic and Vocational streams, can be seen on <www.gnfconline.net> and <www.gseb.org>

New Police Chief: The Gujarat government has appointed Sudhir Sinha as the commissioner of police of Vadodara city after promoting him as additional director general. An IPS officer of the 1976 batch, he replaces D.D. Tuteja, who retired in May. Before this posting he was Special Inspector General (Inquiry). Members of the public can contact him on his landline numbers 2431414 and 2431515 or on his mobile number 98250-49186.

College Of Public Health: Baroda will have India's first college of public health which will combine health care and health education. It will establish protocol and validation for public health in the country. The College of Public Health, which will open in September 2004, will be jointly set up by the Indu Health Research Foundation, K.M. Shah Charitable trust and the College of Public Health, University of South Florida (USF), USA. The K.M. Shah Charitable Trust will provide the necessary infrastructure and USF will extend technical assistance for the formation of the college curriculum and faculty. The college will offer a Masters in Public Health (MPH) which is recognised by the World Health Organisation which identifies persons to work with international NGOs.

20 New Courses At MSU: M.S. University's Centre for Continuing, Adult & Community Services, is introducing 20 new certificate courses in the coming academic year, taking its total to 84 short-term courses and 21 long-term courses. Among the new short-term certificate courses are: art of living, planning and application of materials in interiors, preparation of teaching aids, jewellery designing, graphic designing and advertising, 2D animation and interactive presentation, digital video-editing and composing, architectural walkthroughs, web applications development, computerised fashion designing, seed health testing, strategy of exam preparation, dealing with teenagers and adolescent children. The duration of the short-term courses will be between 15 and 30 days and the fees will range from Rs. 250 to Rs. 1,000. The long-term courses included this year are a one-year course in human resource management and six-month courses in for training day care personnel, airhostesses and handicraft teachers. Rs. 3,000 will be the fee for the long-term courses.

Recession Hits MSU Techo Placements: Only 50 of the 450 students who have completed their course this year from MSU's Faculty of Technology and Engineering have managed to secure a placement. Last year, 52 companies opted for campus placements and selected 136 students. This year, only 27 firms have opted for campus interviews. The ongoing recession may be the reason for this situation.

Diabetes In Vadodara: According to World Health Organisation (WHO) studies, India has 15 million diabetics and is considered the 'diabetes capital of the world'. Researchers at MS University's Department of Food and Nutrition suggest that the main reason for this is the faulty nutritional pattern in many Indian families. The department recently conducted a study on the prevalence of diabetes in Vadodara city. The prevalence of diabetes in older women was higher compared to men of that age. The study covered a sample size of 1,000 people in nearby industrial townships and another 1,000 from the urban area. Ten per cent of the selected sample in the industrial townships were reported to be suffering from diabetes, a major section of which were those above 40 years of age. In the urban area, 10 per cent of the sample size were affected, of which those above 50 years formed a major section. The study also highlighted that older women were more prone to this disease.

Barodian Becomes US City Mayor: Manish Vinod Amin of Virsad village of Vadodara district has recently won the elections to the local corporation and has been offered the mayorship of the East Tavokoni county of Texas, USA. A computer science degree holder, Manish worked in New York and North Carolina before entering into politics.

Genetics Course At MSU: The Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre, Faculty of Science, MS University, will introduce a one-year Post M.Sc. diploma course in Genetic Engineering and Bioprocess Development from the coming academic year. The one-year course will cover broad areas of advanced training in microbiology and immunology, genetic engineering and bioprocess development evaluations. Students with 50 per cent marks in M.Sc. in microbiology, biotechnology or biochemistry or allied branches of biological science will be eligible. Selection will be based on an entrance test and an interview.

Hospital Administration Course: Indian Hospital Association (IHA) Vadodara will start the third batch of the postgraduate diploma course in Hospital Administration at Narhari Kendra from June. Graduates who are interested to join the course can contact Neha Pithwa at Narhari Hospital before May 30 between 1.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. The one-year regular course is recognised by DGHS and IHA, Delhi.

Class 12 Results: This year's GSEB Class XII Science results, declared on 19th May, were the poorest in the last eight years.

… Only 42.81 % passed, compared to last year's 54.39 %.
… Of the 72,875 students who appeared for the examination, 31,196 passed.
… 46.65 % of the girls passed, against 41.18 % of the boys.
… Of the 276 students who have topped at district levels, 81 are girls.
… 3,843 secured distinction, 5,075 first class, 12,249 second class and 10,029 third class.
… The worst result (4.62 %) was in Borsad.
… The best result (74.77 %) was in Ahmedabad's Ellis Bridge centre.
… Among districts, Ahmedabad rural had the best result ((64.23 %).
… The worst district result was in Dangs (21.43 %).
… Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Surendranagar, had the highest pass percentage of 91.57 %.
… Anandiben Thakkar School, Idar, had the lowest pass percentage (0 %).
… Of the 9,422 English medium students, 5,079 (53.91 %) passed.
… Of the 62,564 Gujarati medium students, 25,763 (41.18 %) passed.
… 2,003 students failed in one subject, 7.097 in two, 10,845 in three, 21,454 in four.
… Subject-wise passing percentages: Chemistry (47.34 %); Higher Level Gujarati (99.56 %); Mathematics (56 %); Physics (49.27 %); Biology (52.78 %).

Surat's Ravish Patel (Tekrawala High School) topped with 92.92 % (he was also the state topper with 97 % in the 2001 SSC examination). Of the 18 toppers in the state, 10 are boys and 8 are girls. The toppers are from: Surat (3), Jamnagar (1), Junagadh (2), Ahmedabad (4), Rajkot (2), Bhavnagar (1), Palanpur (1), Vadodara (2), Patan (1), Vallabh Vidyanagar (1).

The pass percentage in Vadodara city was 49.99 %; 6,01 students appeared and 3,250 passed. Last year the pass percentage was 53.14 %.

The Vadodara city toppers: 1. Kathyayini Murthy of Gujarat Refinery English Medium School and Suvorit Bhowmick of Baroda High School Junior-2 (both ranked 7th in the state, with 91.23 %); 2. Rituma Doshi (Tejas Vidyalaya, 89.85 %); 3. Shodhan Desai (Bright English Medium School, 89.69 %); 4. Tejas Thakkar (Sardar Vallabhbhai Vidyalaya, 89.08 %); 5. Vishal Shah (Baroda High School Junior-2, 88.77 %); 6. Pankil Hasmukh Patel (Jeevan Sadhana Gujarati, 88.46 %); 7. Rushad Patel (Rosary, 88 %); 8. Rachana Mehta (Kelavani Trust Vidyalaya, 87.69 %); 9. Falgun Gosai (Sardar Vallabhbhai Vidyalaya, 87.54 %); 10. Vaibhav Gajjar (Pratap High School, 87.38 %).

Results of HSC general stream examination are due in the first week of June and the SSC results are due in the second week of June.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results for class 12 on 23rd May. These results were substantially better than the HSC results. Of the 534 students who appeared from Baroda's eight schools, only two students failed. The toppers: Science stream – Nihar Shah (Bhavan's, 95.6 %), Dhvani Patel (Navrachana, 94.2 %), Saurabh Shukla (Bhavan's 94.2 %); Arts stream – Pooja Nair (Navrachana, 91.8 %), Nirmita Desai (Navrachana, 87.4 %), Princy Mathew (Navrachana, 86 %); Commerce stream – Smita Desai (Navrachana, 89.6 %), Prachi Jain (Bhavan's, 85.6 %, Salil Nath (Navrachana, 85 %). Nihar Shah of Bhavan's topped in the combined stream. Boys took seven of the top ten positions.

Admissions To Professional Courses: The Gujarat government has constituted a Joint Admission Committee for Professional Courses (JAC-PC) to conduct admissions for 13,791 seats in engineering and pharmacy courses and 3550 seats in medical, dental, physiotherapy, ayurveda and homeopathy courses in the state's professional colleges. Common admission forms – available at Vapi, Bharuch, Palanpur, Bulsar, Junagadh, Modasa, Ahmedabad, Godhra, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Bhuj – will be accepted from May 26 to June 9.

New Slant To Home Science Courses: MS University's Faculty of Home Science plans to introduce specialised courses to enhance the students' entrepreneurial and self-employment skills. These vocational courses – in Fashion Designing, Home Management and Food & Nutrition – will be started from 2003-04. Students will be able to opt for them after the first year of B.Sc. The Fashion Designing course will include fashion illustration, fashion sketching, accessory designing, computer aided designing, modelling shows, exhibitions, sales events, etc. The Home Management department will offer courses in interior designing, hospitality management, family economics, front office and personnel management, foods and beverages, tourism, etc. The Food & Nutrition department plans to offer specialisation in dietetics, public health and nutrition and food science and quality control.

MSU Exam System Being Computerised: MS University of Baroda has decided to computerise the paperwork related to the entire examination process. MSU presently conducts 240 examinations in the summer and another 210 around October. In all about 36,000 students studying in the university appear for the examinations in over 800 subjects, which makes the process a rather complicated one. The computerisation activities are being handled by students of the Bachelor in Computer Applications course.

Suspected SARS Case: Suspecting SARS, an 80-year-old lady was admitted to Baroda's SSG Hospital on 13th May. She had been kept in an isolation ward and her blood, urine and stool samples were sent for verification to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune. The lady has been staying in New Zealand for over two years and had come to Baroda on 7th May to visit friends and relatives. While on her way to India with her husband, she had halted for a few hours at Singapore. The lady was discharged from SSG Hospital on 19th May after NIV ruled out SARS.

Self-Financed Engineering College: When the Parul Sewa Mandal opens its 240-seat engineering college at Limdi – Parul Institute of Engineering & Technology – from this academic year, Vadodara will get its first self-financed engineering degree college. The college is awaiting affiliation from Gujarat University and will offer admissions in four engineering branches.

Waste Disposal In Baroda: Senes Consultants India Pvt. Ltd. conducted a survey on Baroda's waste generation and disposal. The preliminary findings:

There are only 830 garbage collection points for a population of about 1.3 million in an area of about 149 sq km.
The city produces 535 tonnes of municipal sewage waste every day and spends Rs. 900 per tonne to dispose it.
70 % of the waste collection is based on disposal in community storage bins.
House-to-house garbage collection is done only in residential societies.
Street sweeping is the only method of primary collection of waste.
A major drawback is that recyclable waste is not segregated at the households.
While Vadsar is the official landfill site, along with two other areas in Gorwa and Jambuwa, dumping is also carried out at other places to fill up private land.
There is no separate mechanism for collection, disposal and treatment of industrial waste.

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has earmarked Rs. 16 million in the current budget to overhaul the waste disposal system. Construction of a separate incinerator for medical waste has already begun.

Incinerator For Medical Waste: The Baroda branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has begun work on setting up an incinerator facility for the waste generated by 727 clinics and hospitals with less than 100 beds in the city. The incinerator, to be managed by the IMA, will also be used by the 25 dispensaries run by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation. IMA's Biomedical Waste Management Cell is monitoring the work on the incinerator. A privately managed company has set up an incinerator at GIDC, but it caters to just 45 clinics and small hospitals due to its limited capacity.

Getting Around In The City: Baroda has 698,173 vehicles, including jeeps, rickshaws, 360,801 mobikes, 168,007 mopeds and 66,619 cars. It is difficult to figure out the number of bicycles. Of the car drivers, 15 to 20 % are women. Though the city's population has grown from 200,000 people in the 1960s to the current level of 1.3 million, there are only 90 buses plying on its 550 bus routes. The bus service, run by the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation, incurs a loss of Rs. 15 per km.

The Science Behind The Tricks: Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) and the Community Science Centre (CSC) will organise public performances to promote awareness about the con-tricks used by tricksters to dupe innocent people. Some of these tricks – lighting fires by chanting mantras, piercing tongues, cutting a body into two parts, making a handkerchief emerge from a coconut, etc. – will be explained on the basis of scientific principles. The programmes will be held every Saturday and Sunday from 24th May to 15th June, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Ambawadi, Opposite Bandstand, Sayajibaug.

Safety Council Courses: Gujarat Safety Council has announced a one-year postgraduate diploma course in 'Industrial Environment Management' in association with Gujarat Environment Management Institute (GEMI) from August. The council will also conduct a two-year part-time evening post-diploma course in 'Industrial Safety'. Admissions close on June 15. For details, please ring up 2397556.

Shefali Jariwala Concert: Boom Events & Promotions, an event management company, have organized a concert featuring Shefali Jariwala, the girl made famous by the 'Kaanta Laga' song in the music video 'DJ Doll'. The programme will be at Akota Stadium from 7.30 p.m. on May 31.

Best Collectors: Vadodara collector Bhagyesh Jha and his predecessor Anil Mukim were selected as the two best collectors in Gujarat for 1999. Both the officers have been associated with the Model District Project, which saw Vadodara becoming the first such district in India.

BMA Lecture: Swami Anubhavanandaji will speak on 'Spirituality and Management' on May 28 at 7.15 p.m. at Baroda Management Association (BMA), Race Course Circle.

Careers In Bio-informatics: Free lectures on 'Careers in Bio-informatics and Biotechnology' will be held from 29th to 31st May between 6.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. at 306, Payal Complex, Sayajigunj.

SSG's Trauma Centre: Baroda's Sir Sayajirao General Hospital (SSG) has started a 24-hour disaster and trauma centre at its premises. Built at a cost of Rs. 13.9 million, the trauma centre has all the facilities to deal with emergencies: X-ray and sonography unit, operation theatres, MICU with a centralized oxygen plant, a special room for heart patients, ventilators, a blood bank, an observation room, medico-legal officer, etc.

Essar's IT Event: Essar Information Technology Ltd. (EITL) has organised a programme on 22nd May for senior executives and IT heads of large companies. The programme will cover: Implementing Enterprise Solutions, Enterprise Management Services, N-tier Applications, Enterprise Information Engineering Services and SAP implementation at Essar. It will highlight how EITL has enabled manufacturing, utility, oil and gas, power and processing industries achieve operational savings and improvements. SAP-India, IBM, Microsoft, etc., are expected to make presentations at this event. Interested corporates may contact Mustafa Lokhandwala <mustafa@essar.com>.

Scorching Heat Dries Up Water Sources: Dry hot northwesterly winds blowing from the Thar heated up Gujarat on Saturday (10th May), with the temperature in many parts of the state soaring to the mid-40s. In Vadodara, the mercury shot up to 45.5 degrees Celsius. Elsewhere in the state: Ahmedabad (44.2), Surat (42.6), Rajkot (42.0), Bhuj (42.2), Vallabh Vidyanagar (44), Bhavnagar (42.7). Sunday (11th) was no better, with Vadodara at 45.2. Monday (12th) was relatively cooler in Vadodara with the mercury dipping to 43.7. On Tuesday (13th), it dropped further to 42.9. Vadodara often registers high temperatures because its physiographic location makes it receive more sunshine than any other city in Gujarat. It receives about 11 hours of sunshine a day. Drinking water sources in nearly 900 Gujarat villages have dried up during the last month. The state water supplies department says that a month ago 1,940 villages had to be supplied water by tanker; now that figure is 2,856. The state has 18,000 villages.

Jugal Pithadia's Mountaineering Feat: Baroda's Jugal Ambrish Pithadia, just 6 years old, was presented a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 5,000 by the Gujarat government for his attempt to climb the 20,079-feet Mount Kalindi in the Himalayas. Jugal, who climbed up to 17,000 feet and had to return due to adverse weather conditions, is the youngest mountaineer to achieve this feat. He was a member of the city based mountaineering club Alpine Lovers.

Only 491 Banyan Trees In Baroda: A survey of trees conducted by MS University's Botany Department reveals that there are now only 491 banyan trees in the Banyan City. The other varieties:
Asopalav (Ashoka): 1,148
Neem: 851
Peltoforum: 997
Pongamias (Karanj): 959
Pipal: 156
Largest Banyan: 27-feet girth. On DN Hall grounds at MSU.
Largest Peltoforum: 12-feet girth. On TB Hospital grounds.
Largest Neem: 17-feet girth. Opposite MSU office.
Unfortunately, the number of gando bawal trees, which grow rapidly but do not permit other trees to grow, has gone up to 349. These trees are found mainly near Golden Chowkdi, the Vishwamitri riverbanks and some parts of Waghodia. The gando bawal trees are a potential threat to the bio-diverse tree wealth of the city, and uprooting and burning them may be the only way to deal with the problem.

There are about 91,000 trees in the city spread over an area of 10,800 hectares – 8.4 trees per hectare. The MSU campus has 11,130 trees. Gandhinagar, Gujarat's capital, has an average of 491 trees per hectare. The survey project was headed by Professor Y.T. Jasrai and the survey team comprised of students Premindra Sisodiya and Bindiya Oza.

Vadodara takes its name from 'Vadpadra' or 'Vadnagar', its original name. It is said that the sage Vishwamitra once chose to rest near a banyan tree in the vicinity of the city and granted a boon that a city named 'Vadpadra' would come up in the area. The city has indeed come up, but the banyan trees are disappearing.

Jagjit Singh Programme: Ghazal programme on 25th May, 7.30 p.m., Ramesh Patel Estate, Vrajdham Mandir Road, Manjalpur. Tickets available at Shoppe, Goodies, Dawat, Fridgetemp.

HSC Results: Results of the HSC Science examination will be declared on May 19. The HSC General Stream and SSC results will be declared soon thereafter. The results will be available via SMS and IVRS (Interactive Voice Recording Service), besides being posted on the Internet and in schools.

GEDA Gets National Award: The Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) has been awarded the prestigious national award for the overall best performance in popularising the solar cooker promotion programme in India by the Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources. This is for the fourth time in the last five years that GEDA has bagged the national prize.

Tribal Cultural Centre: The Bhasha Research and Publication Centre officially inaugurated Tribals First, an Indian Tribal Cultural Centre, on May 5 at the Urmi Char Rasta with a weeklong mela of tribals from Bastar and Chhota Udepur. The idea behind Tribals First is to encourage the dialogue between tribal communities and mainstream society by creating a mela or haat situation where the urban buyer interacts directly with the tribal producer and is thus able to speak to and relate to him.

New GSFC MD: Senior IAS officer of the 1975 batch, A.K. Luke, has taken over as the Managing Director of Gujarat State fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (GSFC). He was earlier Managing Director of Sardar Sarovar Nigam Ltd. and Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd.

Infotainment For Children: Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has organised a special infotainment programme for children during the summer vacation at Kamatibaug on weekends and public holidays. Puppet shows, cartoon shows, characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, jokers and magicians will entertain children and give out messages on civic sense and other issues like wastage of water, cleanliness and health from May 10 to June 15.

Mask Making Workshop: The Community Science Centre will organise a workshop on mask making for students of classes 2 to 12. Those interested may contact the office at Lok Vigyan Bhavan, near Atmajyoti Ashram, Ellora Park, from May 12 to May 14.

Hospital Receptionist Course: Ambalal Sarabhai Foundation and the Hospital Association will organise a short-term job oriented 'Hospital Receptionist Course' from May 12. The three-week course is open for those who have cleared the 12th examination. Admissions will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Please contact the Foundation office for further details at 1st Floor, Bombay Shopping Centre, Race Course, Vadodara.

Seeds Technology Course: The Seeds Technology course offered by the Department of Botany at MSU's Faculty of Science is now one year old. MSU is one of the few universities in India to offer this course. The course is meant to train manpower to help in the production of good seeds on a large scale and to meet the demand of the seed industry. This is a multi-disciplinary science in which the principles of various agricultural disciplines like breeding, plant physiology, pathology, entomology and agro-industry management are blended. Students who have completed their 12th (Science) are eligible to seek admission.

Tribal Art Exhibition: Till May 11. Bhasha Research & Publication Centre is presenting a tribal exhibition at Urmi Char Rasta displaying products created by tribal artisans. On display are beaded jewellery, wooden and earthen toys, flutes, pithora art, earthen pots and vessels, etc.

GEB Digitises Consumer Data: Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) is working on a Geographic Information System (GIS) based project in Vadodara to digitise its consumer related data. The project is expected to make the tackling of complaints and many other procedures faster and more transparent. The work on this project was started in June 2002 and the system may become operational by August 2003. With detailed information about users along 1,350 kms of power lines, 2,874 transformers and over 77,000 distribution poles in the city, the system will speed up the process of handling complaints and hopefully help to prevent the theft of electricity.

Calling all MSU Techo graduates from the Electrical and Electronics department! The past and current students of the Electronics Department have kicked off a 'Mentoring Program' to create a formal channel for interaction between current students and interested alumni. Everybody interested in this 'Mentee-Mentor' program is requested to contact the Head of Department, Prof. A.I. Trivedi at aitrivra@satyam.net.in or send an email to Jayesh Issrani at jayesh_issrani@hotmail.com or K. Chandrashekhar at k_chandrashekhar@hotmail.com

PMO Awards Rs.150 Million Project To MSU: MS University's Education and Psychology department has been awarded a Rs. 150 million project (EDUCTECH 2001) by the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund office. MSU is the only university in Gujarat to be chosen for the project. Professor Sneha Joshi, a former faculty dean, has been appointed the project co-ordinator. The programme will upgrade and provide quality education in higher secondary classes in five earthquake-affected districts (Bhuj, Jamnagar, Surendranagar, Patan, Rajkot). A total of 994 secondary school teachers in 165 schools will be trained in five subjects – Maths, Science, Gujarati, English and Social Studies.

Award For Rani Mukharji: Vadodara based Hindi writer Dr. Rani Mukharji has won the first prize for her book 'Kise Pukaroon' by the Central Hindi Directorate. The award, presented to her recently by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, is given to Hindi writers from non-Hindi speaking areas. Dr. Mukharji, a teacher at Tejas Vidyalaya who has in the past also received awards from the Gujarat Sahitya Academy for her publications 'Sakhi Sahitya' and 'Mode Par', is an active member of the women writer's groups Asmita and Samvedana. She also writes short stories, articles and poems.

HIV/AIDS Helpline:The National Service Scheme (NSS) at the Faculty of Social Work of MS University has started a telephonic counselling centre pertaining to HIV/AIDS. The centre has been started under the University Talks Aid (UTA) project, which is funded by the Indian Government. The programme is the first of its kind on a college campus in Gujarat. Trained counsellors will be available on telephone number 2782692 every Monday, Friday and Saturday from 3.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Shaadi@Barbadi.com:A comedy featuring Paresh Rawal and Swaroop Sampat, this Hindi play will be staged at Gandhi Nagargruh at 9.30 p.m. on May 8. The play is directed by Paresh Rawal.

Aerobics Workshop: Community Science Centre will organise a workshop on aerobics for students of classes 2 to 12. It will start on May 9. Please register at Lok Vigyan Bhavan, Near Atmajyoti Ashram.

Viraasat Lecture By Minja Yang: Last year, Heritage Trust of Baroda instituted the annual Viraasat public lectures series to enable eminent persons in fields related to heritage issues to speak about their experiences and successful projects. This year the speaker will be Minja Yang, Deputy Director, World Heritage Centre, UNESCO, Paris. She will speak on 'World Heritage Convention as a Tool for Sustainable Development' on Tuesday, May 6, at 6.30 p.m. at the Chandarva Hall, WelcomHotel Vadodara. It is free of charge and all interested persons are invited. Minja Yang has been working with the United Nations since 1979.

Gabbar Ka Dhaba: A north Indian food festival at Hotel Revival, till May 11, from 7.00 p.m. to 11.00 p.m. 'Sholay' ambience, with music and fun for children.

Prem No Public Issue: A comedy, the play will be staged at Gandhinagargruh at 9.30 p.m. on May 4. Directed by Siddharth Randheria and written by Pravin Solanki.

Aero-Modelling Workshop: The Community Science Centre will organise an aero-modelling workshop from May 5 to 9. Interested students from standards 5 to 12 may register at Lok Vigyan Bhavan, Near Atmajyoti Ashram.

Obesity In Baroda's School Children: A study conducted by MS University's Food & Nutrition Department reveals that almost 20 % of school children in the 6-to-12 age group and about 8 % in the 12-to-17 age group are obese. Funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the study covered 5,000 children from 10 schools. A pilot study among faculty students aged 17 to 22 showed that 10 % are obese. The study, the first of its kind in India by an academic institute, was done by Professor Mani, Professor Uma Iyer and Hemangini Gandhi. The possible causes: growing affluence, change in food habits, insufficient physical activity, increased intake of fast food, eating out frequently. Hemangini Gandhi has based her doctoral thesis on the topic 'Obesity In School Children: Magnitude and Risk Factor Analysis.' The 'modern' kid rarely walks or cycles, preferring to go to school or tuition classes on a scooter or a moped. Not surprisingly, the study indicated a higher rate of obesity in the more affluent schools compared to those in the 'walled city' areas.

Ear Moulds For The Hearing Impaired: Baroda's V-One Society conducted a one-week training programme in which physically challenged persons were trained to make ear moulds for hearing impaired persons. Four members of the society were trained at Arphi Electronics Pvt. Ltd. at Mumbai. These trained persons are now gainfully employed at V-One Society, making moulds at subsidised rates for poor patients. The society makes the moulds available to the needy at only Rs. 100 apiece.

Jaysinhrao Public Library Needs Help: The Jaysinhrao Public Library, Vadodara's oldest library, will celebrate its 125th anniversary on April 27. The oldest book here is probably the 149-year-old Sanskrit drama, Chaitanya Chandrodaya by Pandit Vichanath Shastri. The library also has unabridged volumes of the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Ramayana, the autobiographies of Galileo and Christopher Columbus, books on the history of the Gaekwad rulers of Baroda and reference books on the industries existing 70 years back. Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad established this first Baroda State Public Library on March 1, 1877. The maharaja's teacher and principal of Baroda High School F.A.H. Elliot assisted him in this project. After the establishment of the Central Library, funds for this library dried up. Then, Shakuntala Gaekwad revived the library and renamed it as the Jaysinhrao Public Library. Royal patronage more or less stopped after the merger of the state to the Indian Union in 1947. The library now barely gets along on the strength of the charity of some individuals. Prasad Vipradas, the Secretary the Library Trust, says that the last time that the premises were whitewashed was in 1977! Experts opine that the building requires at least Rs. 2 million to be spruced up.

Funds Crunch At MSU: Thanks to a funds crunch the Gujarat government has curtailed its higher education financial allotments. MS University has taken a hit by losing out on Rs. 6 million in the month of April. Vice-Chancellor K.C. Upadhyaya has asked for a white paper to detail the ramifications for M<SU. The monthly budget has been slashed from Rs. 31.7 million to Rs. 25.7 million. Universities across the state have been thus shell-shocked.

Tushar Arothe's Long Ranji Innings: When he gets on to the GSFC grounds on 25th April in the Ranji Trophy cricket match against Mumbai, Tushar Arothe will become the first Baroda cricketer, and the 11th in the country, to play 100 Ranji Trophy games. Anshuman Gaekwad has played for Baroda 95 times. The Indian record is held by Rajinder Gohil (122 matches) who played for Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Arothe has scored 5,575 runs at an average of 39.54 in the Ranji Trophy and taken 198 wickets at an average of 20.23. The 36-year-old cricketer has been playing for 20 years. He plays in English county matches between the Ranji seasons.

Hottest Day: With the temperature hitting 43.8 degrees Celsius, 23rd April (Wednesday) was the hottest day thus far this year. The experts say that the temperature may rise still further in the days to come.

Bonsai Lecture: By Jaymala Chavan, at Community Science Centre (8 Mamta Society, Near Amrakunj Society, Ellora Park), at 4 p.m. on Saturday, 26th April.

Children's Workshop: 'Abhiruchi' will conduct – 5th May onwards – a personality development workshop for children between 6 and 12 years at Akota, Jetalpur Road and Karelibaug. The children will be taught table manners, etiquette, public speaking, creative gift-wrapping, communication skills and educational games. For details contact Mitali Ghelani and Neepa Choksi at 10, Triveni Park, Opposite SNDT College, Akota.

Navratri Event For NRGs: The Gujarat government plans to organise a nine-day event for Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRGs) which will attempt to duplicate the 'Pravasi Bhartiya Divas' celebrated on 9th January at New Delhi. Starting on 26th September, the event will run through the Navratri festival. The state expects the participation of NRGs from 150 countries. It will also invite 15 Gujarati associations from each of the six major areas: USA, UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The programme will include industry visits, business meets and seminars.

Short-Term German Course: The Department of German at MS University has announced a short-term intensive course in German during the summer. This beginner's course (110 hours, two hours daily, six days a week) will start from May 15.

Williams To Captain Baroda: Connor Williams will lead Baroda in the semi-final Ranji Trophy cricket match against Mumbai. The match will be played at Vadodara from April 25. The Baroda team: Connor Williams, Satyajit Parab, Rakesh Solanki, D. Dalvi, Tushar Arothe, Ajit Bhoite, Nayan Mongia (wicket-keeper), Zaheer Khan, Rakesh Patel, Irfan Pathan (Jr), Valmick Buch, Irfan Pathan (Sr), Rishikesh Parab, Rohit Chandorkar.

Film Academy May Seek MSU Collaboration: A proposal has been made that MS University's Faculty of Performing Arts should tie up with the Baroda based Sagar Film & Television Academy (SFTVA) to enable the introduction of new courses in the electronic media. Set up in 1951, the faculty is among the oldest in India. SFTVA, a private film institute, was started by filmmaker Ramanand Sagar's sons. MSU does not really have the resources to set up a studio with the latest in television and film production equipment as per the new University Grants Commission guidelines. SFTVA lacks the necessary academic resources in the field of theatre, but it is well equipped with all the modern production facilities for the profession. A collaboration between the two, it is suggested, would therefore be mutually beneficial. Sensible though it may sound, a collaboration between a university and a private entity may not be all that easy, thanks to the red tape that will inevitably appear along the way.

Digital Art Workshops: Art Underground, the digital art gallery, has organised two workshops in May on the various ways in which to create portraits and landscapes with the help of the digital medium. The workshops will be conducted by Sushomita Das, who studied painting at Shantiniketan and then took training in digital art. The workshops will be of two weeks' duration. For details please contact Art Underground, Landmark, Race Course, between 3.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m.

Gujjubhaiye Gam Gajavyu: This is a play starring Tiku Talsania, Ashish Bhatt, Reshma Desai and Ami Trivedi. Directed by Siddharth Randheria, it will be staged at Gandhinagar Gruh at 9.15 p.m. on April 23.

Book Fair: Manubhai Towers, Sayajigunj, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., till April 27. Heavy discounts.

Vadodara Ranks No. 13 In India: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recently commissioned a study of 36 Indian cities with a population of more than one million (Goa and Chandigarh were also included despite having a population of less than a million). The idea was to rank the cities on the basis of communication, finance, transport, professional education, tourism (leisure and business) and growth of the economy. In the study, Delhi ranked first overall, with Greater Mumbai, Chandigarh, Coimbatore and Bangalore in the next four places. This is how Gujarat's cities fared in the study:

HSC/SSC Results: The results of the HSC (Science Stream) examinations conducted in March will be declared by the end of the second week of May. Results of the HSC (General Stream) and SSC examinations will be declared by the end of May.

Foreign Students At MSU: During the last decade the number of foreign students at MS University has dropped from 450 to 85. MSU has yielded ground to colleges in cites like Pune and Bangalore due to a variety of factors: lack of specialised courses, absence of special hostels and food facilities, high living costs, steep development fees charged by the university, a perception that may be Gujarat is not as safe as in the past, and the lowering of education costs in other countries.

Vacation Home For Pets: Barodians planning a vacation can now leave their pet dogs at a reliable 'home' while they are away. The Vadodara Centre for Animal Rescue and Emergency (VCARE) has provided 8 dog kennels on its 1.64 acres of land at Ladriqui near Bhimpura Chokdi. VCARE provides a 24-hour attendant, coolers and music system for all the canine guests. Owners are charged Rs. 100 per day for food and lodging. The centre also provides a pick-up facility through a van.

Astronomy Workshop: The Amateur Astronomers Association of Vadodara (AAAV) in association with the Sardar Patel Planetarium will organise an eight-day workshop on 'Practical Astronomy' from May 5 at the planetarium. Sunspots and planetary observation methods will be the main theme of the workshop. Interested school students of standards 5 to 12 may register their participation before April 30 between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the planetarium.

Science Workshop For Children: Community Science Centre will organise a science workshop from April 28 to May 30. Students from Std 2 to Std 12 interested in science experiments, model making, photography, aero-modelling, model rocketry and calligraphy may register on or before April 20 at Lok Vigyan Bhavan, Arti Society, Near Atma Jyoti Ashram, Subhanpura.

Escorts To Bring Premier Health Services To City: The Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi, has tied up with Vadodara's multi-specialty tertiary heart care centre at Bhailal Amin Hospital to bring state-of-the-art heart diagnostic procedures and interventional heart surgery techniques to the city. Escorts will help Bhailal Amin Hospital to develop a central command centre to reduce the loss of time before treatment. The hospital will be equipped with the world's only mobile coronary heart care unit with a iotic balloon pump so that patients can get preliminary intervention in the first critical hour. The centre's mobile van will cater to cases that fall within a radius of 50 kms from the hospital. The Vadodara centre may also have a helicopter pick-up facility for distances beyond this radius. The centre may also introduce a Heart Alert Service to allow patients to record their heart beats on a small instrument and transmit the information through an ordinary telephone to the centre. This is the first ever tie-up by the Escorts Centre in western India.

Bal Bhavan Courses: The Bal Bhavan Society has introduced new courses in French, Science toy-making and calligraphy for children. The French language classes will he held every Sunday between 10.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. for children aged 11-16 years, while lessons in Science toy-making for children aged 8-14 years will be held everyday from May 1 to May 9 between 8.00 a.m. and 9.00 a.m. The calligraphy training programme for children aged 11-16 years will be held between May 1 and 9 everyday between 8.30 a.m. and 10.30 a.m.

Exhibition Of Prints: Printmaker Kavita Shah has organised a preview of her recent prints (Chincolle) at the Chhaap Printmaking Studio, Purshottam Estate, Opposite Jalaram Mandir, Karelibaug, on April 17 and 18 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The show will travel to Ahmedabad for an exhibition at the Alliance Francaise from April 21 to 25. Kavita will also conduct a workshop on monoprints at the Kanoria Centre for Arts during this period. Later, at Baroda, Chhaap will organise two summer workshops in printmaking – a monoprint workshop for 10 days and an etching workshop for 20 days. The workshops will be open to artists as well as beginners above 16 years of age.

Ecolove, The Electric Bicycle: A Baroda based firm, Rashron Energy, has developed an electric bicycle and named it 'Ecolove'. Its running cost is claimed to be five paise per kilometer, it is pollution free and requires no maintenance. You do not even need a licence to use it. It runs on a battery and needs a minimum of pedaling. Its 'inventor' Ronnie Sabawala says that he designed it for personal use and it can be used for commuting within the city. Any bicycle can be fitted with the electronic control system and the battery attachment, which enables a speed of up to 25 kmph. The attachment, with an electric motor, a mechanical drive and some gears, costs about Rs. 8,000. The battery needs to be recharged daily. The bicycle is not commercially manufactured, and there are only about 10 of them on the city roads.

Contractor's Bungalow: At least one of Baroda's old buildings will not be pulled down. In 1880 Faramji Cowasjee Contractor constructed the six bungalows that still exist today at the Faramji Compound (also known as the Contractor's Compound) near the railway station in Alkapuri. The bungalows bear a resemblance to the MS University Arts Faculty dome that was designed by Robert Chisholm at about the same time. Faramji Contractor was supposed to be an expert brick maker and amateur builder who had had assisted Chisholm in his endeavour. Incidentally, his bricks were used in many of Baroda's buildings, including the Laxmi Vilas Palace. One of the bungalows is now being restored by Faramji Contractor's great granddaughter Jeruben Contractor. Mysore based conservation architect Gundu Rao and a team of artisans from across India is presently engaged in the restoration work. The bungalow, spread over 1,500 sq m, is likely to be 'as good as old' by the end of the year.

Maharani Chimnabai Ladies Club: The Shri Maharani Chimnabai Ladies Club, which celebrated its centenary on 5th April, was a gift from Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III to his queen Maharani Chimnabai I. Also known as the Delhi pavilion (because the original wooden structure was in the past once taken to the Delhi durbar as part of some celebrations), the club is housed in the premises of the Vadodara Zoo's bird section. It has served as a quiet recreational area for women right from the days of the Raj. Formerly restricted to women of nobility, it was gradually thrown open to 'commoners' as well. The late queen mother Maharani Shantadevi Raje Gaekwad allowed women from all families – regardless of caste, creed and community – to be part of the club. It now has only 72 members.

Summer Camp: A summer camp for children has been organised by Bhoolka Bhavan, a charitable institution, from April 24 to May 15, at the Nature Park in Sindhrot. The camp will be held every day between 9 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. For details contact the organisation at 11, Amrapali Society, Karelibaug, Vadodara.

Fire In Chemical Factory: The manufacturing plant of Hari Agro Chemical Pvt. Ltd. in the Nandesari Industrial Estate near Baroda was completely gutted in a major fire on 5th April. Forty employees on duty were quickly evacuated and there were no injuries. The estimated loss from the fire is about Rs. 10 million. Ten fire tenders from the Vadodara Municipal Corporation's fire brigade and companies such as IPCL and GSFC fought the blaze for over four hours before it was controlled. It was the biggest chemical fire reported in Vadodara in the last decade. Hari Agro has been in operation for 18 years and has an annual turnover of Rs. 150 million. It makes chemicals that are used as raw materials and intermediates in the manufacture of pesticides.

High-Tech Telescope For Planetarium: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has cleared a proposal for the setting up of a 20-centimetre hi-tech refracting astronomical telescope at the Sardar Patel Planetarium in Sayajibaug. The system will be computer controlled and will have a VCD camera, a sub-telescope and 16 projection plates and a LCD projector. The equipment may be bought from a Japanese company at a cost of Rs. 20 million.

Hare Khet Se Hara Tel: Encouraged by the initial success of blending petrol with ethanol as an automobile fuel, the Indian Farmers' Ethanol Coalition (IFEC) wants to try blending diesel with ethanol on an experimental basis. A fleet of 100 Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) buses in Vadodara may run on a diesel-ethanol blend from 1st May. This was announced by IFEC chairman Mahesh Patel at a two-day national seminar at Baroda on 'Ethanol Blended Petrol And Diesel And Bio-Diesel As Farmers' Green Fuel'. With the slogan 'Hare Khet Se Hara Tel', the coalition is trying to encourage farmers to take up their sugarcane produce for ethanol production. Claiming that it is economical, environmentally friendly and a boost to the rural economy, the coalition is networking with farmers in Gujarat for the production of ethanol.

Miniature Paintings To Be Documented: Around 2,600 miniature paintings and manuscripts, many of which have never been exhibited at the Baroda Museum & Picture Art Gallery, will now be digitally documented. Art historian Ratan Parimoo has been selected by the Gujarat Government for this assignment. This rare collection of miniature paintings covers almost all the schools (Mughal, Deccani, Persian, Awadh, the various Rajput schools, Jain, Pahadi, Maratha and Sikh) and includes some Japanese sketches too. There are also raga and ragini paintings, nayika paintings and illustrated Hindu Brahminical and Buddhist manuscripts. Mr. Parimoo says that if it is properly researched and documented, the collection stands on a par with the one at the National Museum Institute at New Delhi.

Children's Book On Champaner: The launch of the book 'Champaner And The magic Mountain: Pavagadh', written and illustrated by Rani Dharker, will be held at Crossword on 5th April. Actress Ayesha Dharker will be present on the occasion. The book weaves in history, facts as well as myths and stories about the place in a narrative style which appeals to both the young and the old. The book is a mix of religious myths, legends from history and a tribal story or two. The publication has been made possible thanks to the assistance of Archaeological Survey of India.

Summer Camp For Kids: Bal Bhavan Society will organise a summer vacation camp for children in the age group of 3-16 years during April-May. Workshops on creative arts, clay modelling and terracotta, music, classical and western dance, and coaching in sports like karate, tennis, badminton, table tennis, skating and chess will be held. Interested children can register their names at Bal Bhavan, behind Sayajibaug, Karelibaug, between 11.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. on all days. Registrations are on a first-come-first-served basis.

On The Wings Of White Angels: An exhibition of paintings created by Hobby Centre's child artists on the theme of world peace. Sarjan Art Gallery. April 5 to 12. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Nehal Rachh At Rufford Ceramics Centre: Baroda based ceramist Nehal Rachh has been selected for a six-week residency programme at England's Rufford Ceramics Centre, Nottingham, beginning April 15. Nehal studied graphic design at MS University's Faculty of Fine Arts.

Prize For Tejas Teacher: Dr. Ranu Mukharji has received the second prize for her collection of short stories, Mode Per, from Gujarat Sahitya Academy for 2002-03. Shakhi Sahitya, Kise Pukarun and Nari Chetna are her other literary works. She works as a teacher in Baroda's Tejas Vidyalaya.

FGI Office-Bearers: The induction of the new team of office-bearers of Federation of Gujarat Industries (FGI) will be held at WelcomHotel on 4th April at 7.00 p.m. The new team: Ram Devidayal (president), Yogendra Gangwa (senior vice-president), Ashok Patel (vice-president) and Sanjeev Rungta (honorary treasurer).

New Museum For Vadodara: Gujarat's department of culture is planning a unique city museum at Vadodara, supposed to be the first of its kind in the state. Modelled along the lines of the Smithsonian museums in USA, the Vadodara City Museum has been planned as a part of the state's Sthapna Diwas celebrations to be held on May 1. The museum, to be housed in a hall in the present Baroda Museum & Picture Gallery in Kamatibaug, will feature the city's history, architecture, culture, excellence in arts, traditions of governance and, yes, even the city's history of cricket.

Fire Brigade Completes 50 Years: Commemorating fifty years of its existence, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation's fire brigade celebrated its Golden Jubilee on 31st March. The fire brigade was inducted into the civic body in March 1953. It started in 1880 with its headquarters in Lehripura. It shifted to the Dandia Bazaar premises in March 1953.

Plans For Kamatibaug: Kamatibaug, Baroda's famous park, may soon see some major additions to its attractions. This was revealed recently by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) director of parks and gardens, V.N. Chikhaliya. On the agenda: laughing mirrors, fun-rides, traffic-parks, pay-n-park facility, aquarium and refreshment stalls. These projects will be managed by private parties on a contract basis. Planning is still in the initial stages and it will be some time before you can enjoy the new features.

Summer-Wear Exhibition: An exhibition of hand painted, white cottons for men and teenagers at Trisha Gallery (April 4 and 5, 10 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.) by Smita Patel will feature cool, trendy T-shirts, kurtas and shirts in interesting designs and cuts.

Exhibition of Kurtis: Diva Creations will present an exhibition at Trisha Gallery of ethnic and fusion wear in cottons with a minimalistic look for the summer. The exhibition will have a large range of short tops and kurtis in crushed cottons, south-cottons and gamthi prints with embellishments to suit the hot weather. Also featured will be trendy western T-Shirts, casuals and party tops and handcrafted designer bags. 2nd and 3rd April. Venue: Trisha Art Gallery, Behind Snappy, Jetalpur Road. Diva Creations is a Pune based clothing line started by Darshana Shah.

New Mumbai-Vadodara Flight: Indian Airlines will start a daily flight between Vadodara and Mumbai from 30th March. Operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the flight will have business class and economy class. There will be convenient same-day connections to Bangalore, Chennai, Nagpur and New Delhi. Flight No. IC 689 will depart from Mumbai at 4.10 p.m. and will arrive at Vadodara at 5.05 p.m. The return flight No. IC 690 will depart from Vadodara at 5.45 p.m. and will arrive at Mumbai at 6.40 p.m. The executive class fare to Mumbai is Rs. 4,705, while the economy class fare is Rs. 3,225.

Advertising Club Elections: Nayan Parikh of Focus Publicity has been elected as the president of the Advertising Club of Baroda for 2003-04. Other posts: Laxmikant Bhatt of Lucky Group (vice-president); Chirag Shah of Ami Ads (Secretary); Mihir Shah of Admetrix (Joint Secretary); Kiran Shah of Shah Advertising (Treasurer); Arvlind Purohit of Adert, Jigar Shah of J.P. Publicity, Ashit Dalal of Pearl Publicity and Jayendra Pawar of Dhruv Publicity (Executive Members).

Festival Of Classical Music: March 29 and 30. Organised by Gujarat Government and Komal Nishad. At Music College. Open to all.

Trekking Camp: Manali. April 29 to May 10. Organised by WWF. For details contact WWF office at Indumati Mahal, J.N. Marg.

Board Exams Begin: The Gujarat SSC and HSC examinations began all over the state on Tuesday, 25th March. While 654,493 students appeared for the SSC exams at 523 centres, 391,182 students took the HSC exams at 258 centres. In Vadodara out of 37,898 students enrolled for the SSC exams, only 510 remained absent. For the HSC exams, 3,466 students appeared in the general stream and 6901 appeared in the science stream.

Stamps Exhibition: Vigyan Parishad (Baroda Chapter) and MS University's Faculty of Science have organised an exhibition of postage stamps of Nobel Prize winners, plants and animals on March 29 and 30 at the Botany Department.

For LIC, Baroda's The Best: According to the Divisional Manager of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the Vadodara Division ranked first in the country in terms of policy growth – a massive 321 per cent increase over last year. The figures: 103,582 policies with the first premiums amounting to Rs. 315.8 million.

Festival Of Plays: The Gujarat Sangeet Natak Akademi (GSNA), Triveni and the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) are hosting the finals of a full-length play competition organised by GSNA at the Gandhinagar Gruh from March 23 to 26. On March 27 Triveni will present a new play, 'Tarpan'. Interested persons may contact Prof. Champaklal at MSU's Faculty of Performing Arts or Jawahar Parikh of Triveni at T V Ads for entrance passes.

Digital Illuminations: Art Underground, the city-based Digital Gallery and Workshop, has organised Digital llluminations, an Art Mart, at the Citibank premises, Race Course, from March 23 to 30.

Standard Chartered Opens Branch: Standard Chartered Bank opened its second Gujarat branch at Vadodara on 17th March. The bank will remain open 365 days a year.

Bio-Diesel Plant At Vadodara: Automobile maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. has set up a 300 tonnes-per-annum bio-diesel manufacturing plant at Vadodara on a pilot basis. The company expects the project to be commercially viable within two years. Research indicates that blending bio-diesel with regular diesel reduces the emission of particulate matter and harmful gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. It is mandatory for vehicle owners to blend bio-diesel with diesel in western countries, but not yet so in India. The company makes bio-diesel by using oil from the seeds of the Jatropha plant (commonly known as Rattan Jyot and scientifically called Jatropha Carcus). The company plans to acquire 750 hectares of wasteland in Gujarat to grow Jatropha.

Sayajirao Airport: The Harni airport in Vadodara may soon be re-named 'Shrimant Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad Airport'. The fact that this is one re-naming exercise that seems to have the approval of all Barodians is in itself a massive tribute to Sayajirao.

Media Laboratory: The Home Science Faculty of MS University has acquired equipment to start a media laboratory at the Department of Extension & Communication. The laboratory, which will be inaugurated on March 18, has been set up with help from its alumni association.

New Property Tax System From April: The Gujarat government has finally given its formal approval to the new property tax scheme based on carpet area. From April 2003 property tax will be calculated on the basis of carpet area, location, age, type of building, type of use and its user. Buildings will be classified into flats, bungalows, tenements, row houses, duplexes, etc. With this new system the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) is likely to generate revenue of Rs. 540 million from residential and commercial complexes.

Power Thefts In Gujarat: The transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, chiefly due to power theft, of Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) have reached 28.8 % per month! Power theft and other factors such as malfunctioning equipment cost GEB Rs. 18,340 million in 2001-02 and Rs. 19,810 million in 2002-03. The most cases of power theft came to light in Surat. GEB proposes to save at least Rs. 800 million per month through a concerted crackdown on power thefts across the state. Incidentally, Gujarat ranks second in India in per capita power consumption.

Men Pass The Buck: The findings of a study conducted by Dr. Ashish Shah, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Jamnabai Hospital reveals not very surprisingly that it is women who take on the onus of family planning: there are 239 tubectomies for every vasectomy. The ratio between vasectomies and tubectomies jumped from mere 1:8.5 in 1981 to 1:239 in 2000. For the 20-year period of the study more than 50,000 cases from the hospital were statistically analysed regarding contraception methods like male barriers (condoms), oral contraceptive pills, intra-uterine devices, vasectomy and female sterilisation. The permanent methods of contraception are thrust on the women, while the men escape the scalpel for one reason or another.

School Wins Prize For Traffic Island: 'Ambe Circle', the traffic island developed by Ambe Vidyalaya at Amit Nagar in Karelibaug, was recently adjudged the best traffic Island in the city and awarded a rolling trophy. Among the participants in the competition were Alembic, Sarabhai, L&T and IPCL. The competition was organised by the Vadodara Agri-Horticulture Committee during its 32nd Fruits, Flowers and Vegetables Exhibition, in which private gardens, farmhouses and traffic islands were evaluated under different categories by experts.

Adnan Sami At Akota: Live programme on 17th March, 8 p.m. onwards at Akota Stadium. Tickets priced at Rs. 200 and Rs. 400.

Sayajirao Was Far Ahead Of His Time: As a tribute to Maharaja Sayajirao's substantial contribution towards the role of women in society, MS University's Department of Museology and the Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad Smarak Trust have pooled their considerable resources to put together a photo exhibition on women emancipation on the occasion of his 140th birth anniversary. The exhibition (March 11-19) is at the Exhibition Hall of the Faculty of Fine Arts. The exhibition showcases how education programmes for women were assiduously promoted under Gaekwad rule and how women were encouraged in sports. Sayajirao had set up a Ladies Training College in 1882 to train lady teachers. He also established the Maharani Chimanabai Women's School in 1923 and the Chimanabai Stree Uduyogalaya in 1914. Study rooms were specially provided to ladies in the Central Library. Interestingly, no 'parda-pratha' was observed in the courts of Maharaja Sayajirao or his predecessor Maharaja Pratapsinh.

Sayajirao Gaekwad's Birth Anniversary: Vadodara celebrates Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad's 140th birth anniversary on March 11, 2003 with a variety of programmes organised by the Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad Smarak Trust: a talk at 6. 30 p.m. on 'Good Governance' at Kirti Mandir; an exhibition on the life and times of the king at the MS University Arts Faculty Hall; a book fair at the Mandvi Library; a musical programme at Kirti Mandir on 12th March.

Railway Terminal At Bajwa: The railways are thinking along the lines of setting up a new terminus at Bajwa to take some load off the main Vadodara railway station. If approved by headquarters in Mumbai trains from the Ahmedabad area bound north or east via Godhra may halt at Bajwa and bypass the Vadodara station. Such trains (Sabarmati Express, Jammu-Tawi, Rajkot-Bhopal Express, Shanti Express, Okha-Gorakhpur Express, etc.) will then leave Bajwa and reach Godhra via Pillol and Samalaya. Some Memu trains can also be terminated at Bajwa. The Vadodara station handles 109 trains and roughly 30,000 people daily. Almost 4,000 platform tickets are sold everyday and the peak hours see crowds of 12,000 at the station and its four platforms. Bajwa already has three platforms and additional passenger amenities may call for an investment of Rs. 30 million. It is 11 km from the Vadodara station, 13 km from Mandvi and 8 km from Alkapuri. Interconnecting trains, buses and autorickshaws between Vadodara and Bajwa may be introduced.

Band Again At Bandstand: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) proposes to reintroduce the playing by bands at the bandstand of the Sayajibaug – for some it is more popular as Kamatibaug. The practice had been discontinued 16 years ago.

I am presently in UK for a brief visit, and exhibiting my recent paintings at Haworth, West Yorkshire, UK. The exhibition started from 3rd March and will be on till 16th March (Haworth Fair Trade Fortnight). The paintings exhibited are my recent works on nature, the media used being waterproof ink on paper. I will also be giving demonstrations of various Indian art works. I have had a very good response till now. Please visit our site <www.ShefjanDesigns.com>

Sludge Hygenisation At Gajrawadi Plant: Most Barodians must be aware that the city's domestic sewage makes its way to the Gajrawadi sewage treatment plant. But did you know about the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)'s Sludge Hygenisation Research Irradiator (SHRI) Project in the vicinity of the plant? In this project, a first for India, sewage is treated with gamma radiation to make it pathogen-free for use as eco-friendly organic manure. The project, a joint venture of the Gujarat Government, Vadodara Municipal Corporation and BARC, is the biggest one operational worldwide. The manufacture of irradiated sludge has begun and tests are currently being made on wheat crops in Machipura village in Sankheda taluka. Unlike chemical fertilisers, irradiated sludge does not reduce soil fertility and the quantity required is minimal. The Gajrawadi plant handles 22 million litres of sewage daily.

MSU Develops Natural Black Dye: An ongoing project at the Textile Chemistry Department of MS University's Faculty of Technology may make it possible to obtain natural eco-friendly black dye. The department has used several bio-products such as banyan, neem, tulsi, turmeric, babool, pipal, garmala and mahudo to make natural dyes of various colours and shades. Tests have shown that these natural dyes can be used in mills. Besides being eco-friendly, natural dyes do not harm the skin. Until recently, black was the only colour that could not be extracted using natural inputs. Black is one of the most popular colours in the fashion world and in great demand in international markets. The highest demand for black comes from the Middle East.

Paintings By Bhupen Khakhar: Exhibition at Sarjan Art Gallery, Vishwas Colony. Bhupen Khakhar displays his most recent watercolours painted recently at Sri Lanka. March 9 to 29. 12 noon to 8 p.m.

Hansa Mehta Library May Be Upgraded: The Hansa Mehta Library of MS University wants to convert its existing collection to machine-readable format and achieve ISO standards for library functions, services and operations. The library caters to a wide range of readers from undergraduates to research scholars and postgraduate teachers. It also has some rare volumes, including collections from the 19th century Baroda State records. The cost of the project is likely to be Rs. 20 million.

Awareness Exhibition: 'Nonsense – The Sense Within', a social awareness exhibition, is on till 5th March at MSU's Faculty of Fine Arts, daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The exhibition features the project work of the faculty's third-year students.

Exhibition Of Paintings: By Rohit Zaveri. March 6 - 8, 11 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. at Exhibition Hall, Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU. Surat based Rohit (54) studied painting in the 1970s at MSU.

Shoes Barred In Exam Halls: In order to prevent foul play during the forthcoming Gujarat school board examinations, the Vadodara district collector has ordered school authorities to deal firmly with students or parents who break the rules. Among the stringent measures is a notification to 10th and 12th students asking them not to wear shoes and socks while appearing for the examinations, so as to prevent them from hiding copying material in their footwear. They may wear slippers instead. There are 174 centres for standard 10 and 74 for standard 12.

Baroda Gets DD Metro: Doordarshan Metro channel is available to Barodians from 1st March. Doordarshan Baroda will telecast the metro channel from 6.30 pm to midnight daily. The channel will be transmitted on channel 28 UHF band, and it can be received by using a dipole antenna. The range of the channel is within a 25-km radius of the TV Centre at Narmada Bhavan.

Award For Barun Chowdhury: Barun Chowdhury is this year's recipient of the Commonwealth Arts and Crafts Award. Sponsored by the Commonwealth Foundation, London, this award is for artists below 35, and allows them to travel to, work in and exhibit in the United Kingdom in 2003. Barun studied Painting from Calcutta University and came to Vadodara to do his post-graduation in Graphics at MS University's Faculty of Fine Arts. He has now settled in Vadodara and teaches art at Tejas Vidyalaya.

Exhibition Of Metal Sculptures: By Girish Bhatt, 2nd to 7th March 2003, 12 noon to 8 p.m., Sarjan Art Gallery, Hobby Centre, Alkapuri. Girish Bhatt, 72, did his diploma and post diploma in Sculpture in the 1950s from MS University's Faculty of Fine Arts. He retired as a Reader in the Sculpture Department in 1991.

Digital Images By Preyas Mehta: An exhibition of digital images titled 'Emerging Layers' by Preyas Mehta has been organised at Abhivyakti Sanskruti Sthal, Kedareshwar Mandir, Near Kirti Mandir. March 3 to 9, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Section 144 Imposed: The Vadodara police commissioner has issued a notification imposing Section 144 of the CrPC banning assembly of four or more persons in the commissionerate area from the midnight of February 27 to March 13.

Grapes Grown Successfully In Vadodara: Madhubhai Patel, a farmer at Ranoli near Baroda, has successfully cultivated grapes and won a prize at the recent exhibition organised by Baroda Agri-Horticulture Committee. He is the first farmer in Vadodara district to successfully cultivate the fruit, normally a traditional activity of Maharashtra's Nasik-Pune belt. Grape cultivation requires a substantial initial investment of about Rs. 50,000 and a farmer can get a subsidy of Rs. 24,200 per hectare for the first crop. Grapes can be sold at Rs. 20 a Kg. Gujarat government's Horticultural Department is now collaborating with experts from Gujarat Agricultural University to provide the necessary technical expertise.

Alliance Francaise's Classes: Alliance Francaise will start French classes in Baroda from 3rd March. This is the third centre of Alliance Francaise in Gujarat. Besides language skills, the centre will also promote cultural activities.

Film On Transition From Home To Pre-School: The Early Childhood Development & Learning Resource Centre (ECD-LCR) of MS University's Department of Human Development & Family Studies will release a CD featuring a 15-minute film titled 'From Home to Pre-school'. The film was part of Sucheta Jasrai's PhD thesis on an educational programme for tackling the transition from home to pre-school and identifying the problems faced by parents, teachers and toddlers. The film recently received a national award at a national video film competition organized by the Consortium for Education & Communication (CEC) of the University Grants Commission.

City Firm Gets BARC License: India's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) under the Board of Radiation and Isotope technology has given a license to Baroda based ABS Medicare Pvt. Ltd. to manufacture a product invented by two of its scientists working in BARC. The product is a sterile hydrogel surgical dressing invented at BARC, and it will therefore receive royalty for the transfer of technology. The hydrogel is used widely abroad as a dressing for burns, surgical wounds, bedsores and lacerations of the skin. The product is developed by cross linking hydrophilic polymers like polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and sterilisation through gamma radiation.

Aquatic Exhibition: An aquatic exhibition has been organised at the Sayajibaug by the Gujarat Fisheries Department and the Aquarium Association from 20th to 28th February. Sayajibaug did indeed have an aquarium of its own, built by the Sayajirao Gaekwad, but it was closed down in 1962 due to the lack of technical staff and it has since then been used as a shelter for snakes. Depending on the public response to this exhibition the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) may decide on setting up a permanent aquarium.

'Reflections' At Sarjan: Sarjan Art Gallery has organised a major group show from February 21 to February 28 featuring some of India's eminent contemporary artists: Tota Vaikuntham, Suhas Roy, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Shanti Dave, F.N. Souza, Jeram Patel, Jyoti Bhatt, K.G. Subramanyan, Manu and Madhvi Parikh, Bhupen Khakhar, Jayshree Chakravarty, Jatin Das, Aparna Caur, Aelay Laxman, Rekha Rodwittiya, Suresh Jayaram and Shibu Natesan.

Hemendra Bhatt At Akruti: Art therapist and artist Hemendra Bhatt will exhibit his recent paintings – pencil crayons on paper and oils on canvas – at Akruti from February 22 to March 1. Hemendra Bhatt studied painting at MSU's Faculty of Fine Arts in 1974 and took up art therapy as a vocation.

Shrishti Exhibition: A five-day exhibition of landscapes and paintings by Pankaj Vekariya and Falguni Vekariya will be on at Shrishti Gallery, WelcomHotel, from 22nd to 26th February (10 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.).

Taj Acquires Tropicana In Vadodara: It seems that the Taj Group (Tata's Indian Hotels Company Ltd.) has finally acquired the Vadodara based Tropicana Hotel & Convention Centre. The property may be branded as a Taj Residency property and run by the Taj Group on a management franchise basis. Besides the 86-room Tropicana, the Taj has two other properties in Gujarat: the 91-room Taj Residency Ummed at Ahmedabad and the 29-room Gir Lodge at Sasan Gir in Junagadh. Established in 1903, the Taj Group has 50 hotels in 34 locations in India and 11 international properties in the Maldives, UK, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Africa and West Asia.

MSU 'Dresses Up' For UGC Grants: The MS University campus was generally taken to the cleaners in preparation for the inspection, from 19th to 21st February, by a team from India's University Grants Commission (UGC). The visiting team will assess the utilisation of funds granted to MSU in the last Five Year Plan (FYP) and also prepare a report to decide the amount to granted in this FYP. Planning ambitiously to overhaul its infrastructure and go in for increased computerisation, MSU has proposed a budget of around Rs. 500 million for this FYP. Only if wishes were horses!

Last Show Of 'Pappa Jane To': After being staged on and off for 40 years, the play 'Pappa Jane To' had its last show on 16th February at Gandhi Nagargruh, Baroda. It was first staged in 1964 and had a total run of 168 shows in the city. Only six of the original nine actors still survive – Suman Shah (75), Natu Patel (68), Mahesh Parikh (61), Nayan Modi (65), Vrunda Trivedi (65) and Chetna Trivedi (48). Certificates were given on the 16th to all the 120 actors and actresses who have acted in this play from time to time.

Course In Jain Studies At MSU: MS University has started a Jain Academy Education & Research Centre to teach courses in Jainism as well as undertake research in ancient literature. The Shree Kalidas Sakarchand Doshi Trust and the Jain Academy Education Research Centre have provided MSU with a grant of Rs. 1.1 million to start the course. Dr. L.M. Joshi, from MSU's department of Sanskrit. Pali and Prakrit, has been appointed co-ordinator of the programme. The first certificate course began on 11th February with over 25 students. The course fee is Rs. 330 and those who have passed HSC are eligible for admission. The medium of instruction is English, but a student may choose any language for examination purposes.

Satellite Imagery For City Planning: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) will use satellite imagery and a powerful cartographic software called 'ArcFM' to study physical features and correspondingly create a 3-dimentional image of various grids and networks within the city. The pilot project will cover Ward 6 – roughly 20 Sq Km of the Sayajigunj and Akota areas. The project will utilise the services of the NRSA (National Remote Sensing Agency). A consultancy agency is helping to digitise VMC's vast service database and put it into a software called GIS (Geographic Information System).

Yoga & Naturopathy Workshop: Ambalal Sarabhai Foundation will organise a two-day workshop on Yoga and Naturopathy on February 22 and 23. It will be conducted by Dr. Srinivas Solapurkar. The programme will be conducted every Saturday and Sunday. For details please contact the foundation office (1st Floor, Bombay Shopping Centre, Race Course) between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m.

Diploma Course For Teachers: The Medical Care Centre Trust will conduct a one-year diploma course from June 2003 for training teachers for mentally challenged children at K.G. Patel Children Hospital. The diploma is recognised by the Government of India. The qualification needed is HSC or above. Interested persons may apply before April 30. For further information, please contact the co-ordinator, Medical Care Centre Trust, K.G. Patel Children Hospital, Jalaram Marg, Karelibaug, Baroda 390 018.

New Museum Director: The General Administration Department of the Gujarat government has appointed K. Soman as the Director of the Museum & Picture Gallery, Vadodara.

Memorabilia For Gaekwad Fete: An exhibition of rare photographs and other memorabilia depicting the emancipation of women in the old Baroda State has been planned by MS University's Department of Museology at the Faculty of Fine Arts from March 11 to commemorate the 140th birth anniversary of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad. The Sayajirao Gaekwad Smarak Trust has appealed to the people of Vadodara to participate actively in the exhibition by lending any memorabilia that their ancestors may have passed on to them. Please contact Bansidhar Sharma, C-90 Sukrutinagar, Diwalipura, Old Padra Road, Baroda (phone: +91-265-2334630), or M. Gandhi, 9 Sargam Apartment, Piramitar Road, Dandia Bazaar (phone: +91-265-2427977).

Computerised Mapping Of Pipelines: Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has decided to carry out computerised mapping of underground lines in all the 26 municipal wards. The computerised mapping will cover all the details of underground pipeline networks and help the corporation identify leakage points quickly and precisely. The project cost will be Rs. 8 million.

Buddha Statue At EME Mandir: A statue of Lord Buddha will soon be installed at the EME Temple complex which houses the famous Dakshina Moorthy Temple. The statue has been sculpted by Devdatta M. Haldankar of Baroda Museum. The EME Temple, constructed in 1965 under the patronage of the founder Commandant of EME School A.F. Eugene, is the only one of its kind in India as it is made of aluminium and has symbols of five religions. The four entrance doors, made in semi-elliptical shape, represent Jain architecture. The prayer hall is dome-shaped and depicts Islam. The top of the dome represents Buddhism, a 70-foot tower depicts Christianity and the Kailash on top symbolises Hinduism. The temple complex houses about 106 sculptures, some dating back to the 7th century.

Theatre Personality Passes Away: The passing away of renowned theatre personality Yashwant Kelkar on January 11 was not extensively covered. He was the first National School of Drama student from Gujarat. Besides teaching drama at MS University's Faculty of Performing Arts, he was also a meticulous theatre technician. He had acted in over 125 plays and had directed 75 plays in Gujarati, Marathi and Hindi. He won the Gaurav Puraskar for his work in Gujarati theatre, the Gujarat Sangeet Natak Akademi award, and the Maharashtra State Literary Award for his Marathi book 'Natya Nirmiti'.

Lawyers' Study Circle: Baroda has its own lawyers' group; it's called the Lawyer's Saturday Club and has about 70 members. It began as a study circle of close friends in 1997 and blossomed into a 'club' in December 1998. Former Chief Justice of India M.N. Venkatachalliah was present at the first anniversary of the club. A typical club 'session' has some expert delivering a paper on a specific topic, followed by a lively discussion. Its website <www.lawyerssaturdayclub.com> is being inaugurated by former Supreme Court judge Justice G.T. Nanavati.

VCCI 2003 Expo: About 500 small and medium scale manufacturers from all over India will display their products at the VCCI 2003 Exhibition from February 6 to 10. The event has been organised by Vadodara Chamber of Commerce & Industry (VCCI). Separate visiting hours have been allotted for business visitors (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and the general public (3 p.m. to 8 p.m.).

Railway Exhibition: A train designed to depict 150 years of Indian Railways will halt at Vadodara on February 3 and 4. This 'Exhibition on Wheels' has 12 display coaches showcasing the history of railways in India, rail engines, rail coaches, passenger amenities, safety measures, freight services, railway electrification, signaling and telecommunications, rail tourism and suburban rail services. The train will parked be at the Goods Shed (which is near the parcel department). No entry fee will be charged from visitors.

Music Festival At MSU: MS University's Faculty of Performing Arts has organised a two-day music festival on 1st and 2nd February in the memory of Ustad Mawla Bakhsh, its founder principal, and Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan, his grandson. Eminent musicians and academicians will present their compositions and lectures on the Sufi tradition in Gujarat.

Sports Tournaments: The All Baroda Carrom Tournament will be held at Sardar Vinay Mandir, Karelibaug, from February 7 to 10. The Open Baroda Badminton Tournament will be held at Bal Bhavan Society from February 6 to 9.

Major Fire At Kothi Building: A substantial portion of the 123-year-old District Collectorate Building, built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad and more popularly known as the Kothi Building, caught fire late on the night of January 28. As the structure is mostly wooden the fire spread rapidly, and it took 20 fire engines and 70 firemen six hours to control it. Severely damaged or destroyed were sensitive documents and archival records of the local crime branch, local intelligence branch, gram rakshak department, weights and measures section and the geology and mining department. Initial reports suggest that the fire may have been caused by an electrical short-circuit. There were no injuries, and the initial estimate of the damage is Rs. 1.3 million.

Sagar Film Academy 'Produces' First Batch: Sagar Film & TV Academy, Baroda, had started a three-month course in acting last year. Thirty-six students of the academy's first batch were awarded their diplomas on 27th January by Gujarat Governor Sundar Singh Bhandari. The course covered Stanislavski's theory of method acting, Brecht's theory of alienation and Bharat Muni's 5000-years-old natyashastra. Students were also taught voice culture, diction and speech, Hindi, dialogue delivery, yoga, dancing, stunts and horse riding. The institute is likely to start courses in direction, television production, photography, editing and computer graphics.

Express Highway Inaugurated: The first phase – covering the 43.4 km stretch between Ahmedabad and Nadiad – of the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 28th January. The 49.9 km Nadiad-Vadodara section is included in the second phase and will be completed by December 2003. The first phase cost is Rs. 1,800 million, while the second phase is expected to cost Rs. 2,950 million.

Gujarat – The Most Connected State: Over 1500 towers, an 8,000-km optic fibre network and 3.5 million subscribers – all of this makes Gujarat today the most connected state in India. With the country's highest teledensity (5.75), the state may already have achieved the national teledensity target of 7; the country as a whole may do so by 2005. Unlike other states, where customers are concentrated in the metros and urban centers, Gujarat has a customer base spread across the length and breadth of the state. By November 2002 the state had over 750,000 cellular subscribers (there were only 400,000 subscribers till December 2001. While Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. dominates the landscape of basic telephony with about 2.85 million connections, the cellular market is dominated by Hutch. Reliance Industries Ltd. is yet to begin its commercial operations.

Suburbs To Be Integrated Into City: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) is considering major plans to integrate the city's suburbs by providing infrastructure and carrying out beautification drives. The corporation has drawn up Town Planning (TP) schemes for major suburban areas around Vadodara such as Atladra, Gotri, Gorwa, Harni, Sama, Sayajipura, Jambua, Kapurai, Kalali and Tarsali, areas that have been identified for their potential areas for urbanisation. The rate of growth of the city is 23 per cent each year, against the national Indian average of 24 per cent. Each TP scheme is being structured to accommodate a population of 30,000, on a basis of 220 persons per hectare. The selected areas will be provided with a sports complex within a five-km radius, a swimming pool within a three-km radius, and schools, leisure gardens, town centers, police stations, post offices, bus stops and shopping centers within a one-km radius. VMC has already developed five TP schemes for Atladra and two each for Gotri, Harni, Sama and Sayajipura.

Shortage Of Teachers At MSU Techo: About one-third of the teaching posts in the Faculty of Technology & Engineering at the MS University of Baroda are lying vacant. The faculty has 322 teaching posts, but its current strength is only 212 teachers. Of the 74 sanctioned posts of professors, 16 are vacant and 12 professors are expected to retire shortly. The present rules insist on a PhD for a professor's post, and it is difficult to get people who are doing research in technology or engineering. Besides, non-teaching jobs are more lucrative in engineering and engineers prefer not to opt for teaching as a vocation.

Census Of Migratory Birds: The Gujarat Forest Department will conduct for the first time a comprehensive census of migratory birds in the state. The enumeration will be done at 15 wetland locations in and around Vadodara and will be completed by February 2, World Wetlands Day. Non-Governmental agencies like the WWF and Animal Welfare Board will join hands with the Forest Department in this exercise.

Photo Show On Cultural Heritage: Archaeological Survey of India, Vadodara Circle, in collaboration with the Department Of Museology, MS University, will organise a photo exhibition titled 'Cultural Heritage – Significance & Our Responsibility' from 26th to 31st January at the Faculty of Fine Arts. The exhibition will highlight the monumental heritage of Gujarat and Daman & Diu and the major conservation works carried out at centrally protected monuments in the state, especially the monuments affected in the 2001 earthquake.

NRI Parents Association Meeting: According to Mr. Madhusudan B. Mehta (president of NRI Parents Association) the next meeting of the association will be on 25th January at 4.30 p.m. at Rangoli Restaurant, Fatehgunj, Vadodara. All members and those parents whose children are abroad are requested to attend the meeting. The two-hour meeting will be followed by tea and snacks (at Rs. 50 per person). For more information please contact vice president N.G. Jambhekar (+91-265-2391562).

Encyclopedia On Baroda Jail: P.A. Gohil, the deputy jailer of the Baroda Central Jail, has compiled an encyclopedia (published by the jail printing press) covering the big and small details about the jail. Among the facts:
It is the first central jail in Gujarat
It was set around 1881 by the British
The estimated the cost of the 60 acres of land occupied by the jail is Rs. 2,490 million
It now has 1,567 prisoners and 29 television sets
One 26-year-old inmate graduated in Sociology while serving a life term.

Indian Food Festival: Till February 2, at Terra Firma, Hotel Tropicana, 7.30 p.m. to 11.30 p.m.

Paintings On Glass: Sarjan Art Gallery will exhibit the works of Suraj Gohel, a talented artist who paints on glass. January 27 to February 1. The theme for his show is 'Flowers'.

Sandhya Khode At Shrishti: Sandhya Arvind Khode is showing her paintings in the Warli and Madhubani styles at the Shrishti Gallery. January 21 to 30.

Toy Train's Engine Returns To Palace: Ranjitsinh Gaekwad received a priceless gift on his fifth birthday some 60 years ago from his father Pratapsinh Gaekwad. The gift was a fully functional toy train, complete with a steam engine and three coaches. The young prince and his siblings used the train to travel from Laxmi Vilas Palace to the palace school, which incidentally is now the Fatehsinh Museum. Pratapsinh Gaekwad had the train specially made by a London based company, Royal Locomotives. The royal family gifted the entire train in 1958 to the Vadodara Municipal Corporation so that all the city's children could enjoy rides on it at Sayaji Garden. Bollywood history buffs may remember that it was on this train that Shammi Kapoor sang the memorable song 'chakke pe chakka, chakke pe gadi' in the film 'Brahmachari'. In 1993 the train's engine was declared unfit for further use and mothballed in a shed at the Sayaji Garden; the train still continues to run, but it is hauled now by a diesel engine. Ranjitsinh Gaekwad therefore wants his engine back so that he can spruce it up and display it at the Maharaja Fatehsinhrao Museum. Graciously, a grateful city has agreed to return the gift to its original recipient.

AIR Vadodara Preserves City's Musical Legacy: All-India Radio Vadodara has begun the task of preserving Baroda's musical legacy by converting the rare records in its archives into CDs. About 100 rare records have already been converted into CDs and others are being digitised. AIR has several records of classical music masters like Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Shiv Kumar Shukla, Anwar Hussain, Vilayat Hussain Khan and others who have performed in the city. It also has a collection of some rare stage plays by renowned theatre artists like C.C. Mehta, Markand Bhatt and Yashwant Kelkar, besides records of instrumental artists like Dharmiklal Pandya (Manbhatt) and Dawood Khan (Sarangi).

New Netaji Statue: When the Baroda mayor garlands a new statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at Wadi Wadi on his birth anniversary on 23rd January, art enthusiasts will be happy that the older statue, which was generally considered to be aesthetically unpleasant, will finally be replaced. The new statue has been sculpted in bronze by Ahmedabad based sculptor Jasuben Shilpi. Now several city artists and organisations are suggesting that two more statutes – that of Rana Pratap at Fatehgunj and of B.R. Ambedkar near the Gujarat Electricity Board office at Alkapuri – be replaced too.

Pavagadh Ropeway Accident: There was a major accident on Sunday, 19th January, which was caused by a snag in the ropeway that carries pilgrims and tourists to the top of the Pavagadh hills near Baroda. Seven persons died in the accident and 45 were injured.

The sequence of events:
11.00 a.m.: 56 trolleys of the ropeway were running when the system failed, with two trolleys crashing to the ground and three banging into pillars.
11.15 a.m.: Ropeway staff and locals begin rescue operations.
12.00 Noon: A Gujarat minister reaches the site to oversee rescue operations.
12.30 p.m.: Fire tenders from Baroda reach the site and join the rescue operations.
3.00 p.m.: Army helicopter makes sorties.
4.00 p.m.: Army team arrives from Baroda.
4.30 p.m.: Disaster management team reaches the site from Baroda.
7.15 p.m.: Rescue operations end with all the trapped passengers brought down to safety.

The ropeway, which began operations 14 years ago, runs from Machi in the middle of the hills to the Mahakali temple on the hilltop.

Music As Therapy: Research conducted at Baroda Medical College's departments of Medicine and Psychiatry suggests that music may help to cure some psychosomatic disorders. The research studied the therapeutic effects of specific ragas of Hindustani classical music on specific psychosomatic disorders. The study was conducted, among others, by Dr. Nivedita Mehta, who is a doctor of medicine and a singer with a diploma in classical music from MS University's Faculty of Performing Arts. She presented her research findings at the 55th annual national conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society in Hyderabad. The research dealt with four different ragas: for essential hypertension, Raga Ahir Bhairav played in the early morning; for bronchial asthma, Raga Darbari Kannada played late at night; for insomnia, Raga Puria played late in the evening; for depression, Raga Bhim Palasi played in the afternoon. The basis of the study is the ancient medicine system wherein a disease is linked to the three 'doshas' caused by the imbalance in 'vaat, pith and kapha' (the elements – air, water and fire). An imbalance of these three manifests itself as a disease. The hypothesis being scrutinised was that the playing of certain ragas at specific times sets right the imbalances, as music creates certain rhythms that affect the human mind and can harmonise the imbalances. The research was a controlled study conducted on 80 patients at the OPD level at the SSG Hospital. The patients were tested on the basis of physiological, psychological and clinical parameters before and after the study. The study lasted for 45 days, during which the patients were made to listen to cassettes for 30 minutes everyday.

SSC & HSC Exams: About 654,000 SSC students and 312,000 HSC students (from 6700 secondary schools and 4000 higher secondary schools) will appear for the Gujarat Secondary Education Board examinations which will be conducted from 25th March to 8th April.

Vadodara's Water Woes: Vadodara's population is expected to increase from the current 1.5 million to 3.5 million by 2025, and the demand for water will jump from the present 290 MLD (million litres per day) to about 600 MLD. Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) now draws water from four French wells in Vasad, Poicha, Dodka and Raika, as well as from the Ajwa reservoir, 56 tube wells along Mahisagar and 22 tube wells at various locations within the city. The water infrastructure is designed for a capacity withdrawal of 270 MLD, but with the VMC drawing 290 MLD (about 64.3 million gallons a day) there is a lot of pressure on the existing tube wells and the Ajwa reservoir with the result that the water table is depleting fast at these locations.

MSU's Commerce Faculty May Be Split: New restructuring plans have recently been proposed for MS University of Baroda. If the plans are approved, the Faculty of Commerce, the largest faculty in the university with over 17,000 students, may be split into five mutually competing sections for the sake of administrative convenience.

Top 100 Schools: This year five educational institutions from Gujarat – Manav Kendra Gyan Mandir (Baroda), Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’ V.M. Public School (Baroda), Rajkumar College (Rajkot), Sainik School (Balachadi) and Vallabh Ashram’s MGM Amin & VN Savani School (Valsad) – have made it to the list of the top 100 Indian residential schools. The list is published in the book ‘Guide To Good Schools of India’, written by Sandeep Dutt. The book was first published in 1999. The book also has an online version and can be accessed at www.goodschoolsofindia.com. The publishers, English Book Depot, are one of India’s leading bookstores. Sandeep Dutt is an alumnus of Doon School. Baroda’s Manav Kendra Gyan Mandir is also featured in the website www.boardingschools.com, a compilation of top residential schools of the world.

New VMC Commissioner: V.C. Patel, an IAS officer of the 1980 batch, is the new Vadodara Municipal Commissioner (VMC). He was earlier the Managing Director of Gujarat State Handloom Development Corporation. Arvind Agrawal, who held the post till now, has been shifted to Gandhinagar as the new Cottage Industries Commissioner.

Flower Arrangement Competition: Baroda Metropolitan Junior Chamber (BMJC) will organise an ‘Open Baroda Fresh Flower Arrangement Competition’ on Republic Day (January 26) at Hotel Express, Alkapuri, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Those who wish to participate may contact Madan Mahida (91-265-2391747) or Sandhya Modi (91-265-2339075).

Exhibition-Cum-Sale: Gujarat State Khadi & Village Industries Board has organised a 10-day exhibition-cum-sale of Khadi and village industries products at the exhibition ground near Kirti Stambh from 21st 30th January.

Baroda Festival: The ‘Baroda Festival’ will be held from February 7 to 9 at M.C. High School, Salatwada. It is organised every year by the Way to Unity Trust, an NGO, to highlight the culture and tradition of the Maharashtrian community in the city.

3 New Flyovers Planned: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) wants to build three new flyovers at an estimated cost of Rs. 440 million. VMC's General Board has passed the proposal, the money has been allocated, but clearance is awaited from the railway authorities. The 3 sites are:

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