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Friday, December 11, 2009

Edition 4- Hill Stations Inside Pune


There are some good changes in Pune, but more such efforts are needed….

We say that Pune has changed. Most of the changes we refer have negative connotation: pollution, noise, traffic etc. There is one positive change as well. As per environmental survey, the green cover of Pune is increasing. Pune is among the greenest urban areas in the country with more than 40 per cent of its area under green cover. Out of all wards covered with rich green cover is Sahakar Nagar which has double than the recommended green cover of 0.2 ha/1000 individuals. The report estimates that PMC has about 2,500 acres of land available for plantation.
“I remember in early to mid eighties , ARAI hill (Vetal Tekdi) was a barren hill, Now look at the hill, its turned into a green spectacle”, says Nikhil Joshi , 35 , IT professional. Same can be said about hill behind Cummins which now hosts a novel concept called smrutivan. This all started at taljai.
This is kudos to some novel planning along with some active government and public participation
In the tussle between development and ecology, we tend to undermine the integral role that the environment plays in our lives. Thus we keep talking about how Pune is no longer the pensioner's paradise it used to be. But this is where most discussions come to a standstill and we citizens remain mere bystanders to happenings around us.'.
This phenomenon started with Pachgaon parvati forest in early 80s.
The Panchgaon parvati forest area, on which the taljai temple is located, is surr-ounded by Parvati, sahakar-nagar, dhankavdi ambegaon and sinhgad road. Thus this island of green faces the everyday pressures of a congested urban agglomeration. This forest land plays host to a variety of flora and fauna which include the peacock, black naped hares and a spectrum of birdlife. This means that the highly understaffed forest department is left to protect a large area with abundant natural resources from encroaching slums, illegal cons-truction, tree felling, trespassers, stray animals and irresponsible citizens.
This project was started by Forest Department. Then there was also citizen parti-cipation through organizations like Tekdi. Work done by tekdi is consciously targeted towards a holistic approach towards enhancing bio-diversity and not just increasing the green cover in the city.
One of the activities that any 'environmental organization' is supposed to be doing is : planting trees. But assuming that mere plantations will suffice would be being naïve. Hence activities that are equally important but less con-ventional are called for. Tekdi eco club "Taljai-Parvati" has been trying to help the forest department out in their activities, thus setting stage for a more healthy citizen-authority relationship which finally works out to be beneficial towards conserving nature. The group has been active in patrolling the forest area at night in order to curb the illegal tree felling that takes place, especially sandal-wood.
Alert citizens can make a huge difference to the governing officials. This was amply proved when on several occasions, Tekdi members helped the forest officials tackle the forest fires that destroy the natural habitat at a large scale.
Another change that has happened is active policy making from garden department of PMC which not only takes care of gardens but also greening activities. The main problem faced is to match development without damaging trees. Road widening, improving infrastcuture does not necessareily mean cutting trees.
In 2003, Pune was listed as the fifth most polluted city in Asia. The increasing heat, change in climate, global warming are the results of pollution. 'Plantation is one of the best solutions for pollution'. It may be in the form of greenery development, a fforestration, or gardens especially for the cities and urban areas.


As many as 820 trees have been planted for every 100 trees cut in Pune in the last eight years," is what the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) garden department has stated in its affidavit, to be filed before the Bombay high court .
The PMC has stated that it has ensured that 5,35,350 trees have been planted in Pune and that permission for cutting 65,240 trees has been given since 2001-02.
The affidavit is being filed by the PMC following the Bombay high court interim order in May restricting the PMC from giving tree-cutting permission without the court's approval.
According to PMC records, the total number of tree-cutting permission given for all reasons road-widening, development works, private development or trees in dangerous conditions are 65,240.
Another initiative is concept called smruti van.
At Smruti Van (remembrance park) in Karvenagar, people nurture trees in remembrance of those dear to them.
It all started in 1987, when the late social worker S.V. Ketkar secured an eight-acre plot from the Jnana Prabhodini to put his concept of 'Smruti Sathi Zaad' (trees as a tribute) into practice.
Today, the park has 1,580 smruti vrikshas, including sandalwood, mango and jackfruit, all nur-tured by vriksha dataas (people who adopt trees).
At Smriti Van, people can adopt a tree against a one-time payment of Rs 1,000. Name plates, with details of those who have adopted the tree and in whose memory it is, are then hung on it. The trees are protected and nurtured by Nisargasevak trust employees.
People adopt trees not only as a tribute to their near and dear ones, but also in memory of things dear to them. Marathi writer P.L. Deshpande has planted a tree in memory of singer Vasant Deshpande, while his wife, Sunitabai, has planted one in memory of writer G.A Kulkarni. Many noted personali-ties like actors Ramesh and Seema Deo, Sumitraraje Bhosale, Bollywood director Ashutosh Govariker and scientist Jayant Narlikar, too, have planted trees in the park.
Bolstered by the success of the project, the trust set up a similar Smruti Udyan at the old garbage dump on Paud road a year ago and another at Solapur.
Finally we are all witness to how we have created and restored Bhamburda Forest ark or vetal Tekdi. This area acts as lungs to Pune city. This is a great place for all to have a quiet walk, exercise or just go close to nature.
Vetal Hill is located to the west side of Pune Municipal Corporation. This are covers 10.5 square kilometres (4.1 sq mi). Notable are the efforts for organizations like kalpa-vriksha and few corporate entities who have made this.
This is a place where we can go with children and show them an example that not all changes are bad. There are some positive changes as well. All that is needed is intent.
And its just a start we have miles to go to make Pune a really good place to live….

Edition 4: RTI Assessment Report

RTI Assessment Report

After 4 years of RTI acts few studies are done to judge its effectiveness and usage.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
RTI AND THE PUBLIC AWARENESS
l Nearly 65% of the randomly selected inhabitants of ten state headquarters, and Delhi, stated that access to information, especially government information, would significantly help them solve many of their basic problems.
l In rural areas and district head-quarters the overall percentage was similar, with nearly 65% of the FGDs concluding that access to information was helpful.
l The justification and rationale for the RTI Act is not the demand for the act (as many might not have yet heard of it, or know how to use it), but the demand for information,
especially as a means of empowerment to address some of the basic problems.
l 45% of our randomly selected urban respond-ents (from state capitals and the national capital) claimed that they knew about the RTI Act.
l In the rural areas, most people got to know about the RTI Act through news papers (35%), followed by television and radio, and friends and relatives (10% each), and NGOs (5%).
l Among urban applicants, nearly 30% learnt about the Act from news- papers, 20% from NGOs and a similar number from the TV, and almost 10% learnt about the RTI Act from friends and relatives.
l Unfortunately the government was not a major force in raising public awareness about the RTI Act.
Number of RTI Applications Filed
l An estimated 400,000 applicants from the villages of India filed RTI applications in the first two and a half years of the RTI Act.
l An estimated 1.6 million applications were filed in urban areas in the first two and a half
years of the RTI Act.
l Disturbingly, over 90% of the rural applicants and 85% of the urban applicants were males.
Profile of the RTI Applicants
l Among the rural participants, about 30% of the sample applicants belonged to the economic weaker class of society, having a below-poverty-line (BPL) or Antyodaya ration card. Nearly 65% had above-poverty-line (APL) cards.
l Among the urban applicants, nearly 15% of the sample applicants belonged to the economic weaker class of society, having a below-poverty-line (BPL) or Antyodaya ration card. Nearly 85% had above-poverty-line (APL) cards.
Constraints in Filing RTI Applications
l Over 40% of the rural respondents stated that the most important constraint they faced in
exercising their right to information was harassment and threats from officials.
l Nearly 15% of urban respondents cited harassment from officials and uncooperative officials as the most important constraint.
l In many of the villages across the country there was a threat perception among the villagers and they were hesitant to file RTI applications even when requested
l Nearly 30% of the villagers filing RTI applications for us reported that they were discour aged by the PIO from filing the application.
l Very difficult to get addresses of PIOs, especially for district and sub-district levels.
l There are 88 different sets of RTI rules in India and no one place where they are all available. Differing rules mean differing amounts of fee to be paid, different modes of payment and even of filing applications.
l Some states insist on sending even letters in the state's language, making it impossible for people from other states to access information (despite section 4(4) of the RTI Act).
10 section 4(4) of the RTI Act).10

Edition 4- Thanks to Readers

Dear Readers
Thanks for your response. We have been receiving some really encou-raging response for Cityblog. This paper is now distributed in DAV Aundh, Orchid, Vikhe Patil, Gurukul, Vidya Bhavan, Vidya Valley, Bharti Vidya Bhavan in Model colony and distributed independently in major centers , clubs, doctors, hotels, offices. We have received good feed-backs which mainly congratulate us for having a very clean and infor-mative paper for family reading. Our purpose of making it different by means of features useful for entire family is also appreciated. We have also received an opinion that since the reader gets this copy on weekends he can really read the information and details. We have one request to really make this as active and interactive forum. We invite your contributions, articles, suggestions, responses, comments (both negative and positive). If you want us to cover your school, or event which is worthy of social as well as personal cause, we will do that. Or just if you want your snaps published do mail is snaps. We need your participation to really make it as a useful forum for all the families. We also have launched prizes for kids sending us solved quizzes. These quizes really test their awareness, logic skills etc. Forum is ready to follow up issues for you and I. We have given real value of money for our advertisers who have need to reach up to audience. They now have a very handy community tool. We have done what we felt was needed based on a survey; now it's up to all of us to use this and make it a real useful tool for all of us. So your comments and suggestions are sincerely solicited.Please send in your emails at : newsdesk@cityblogpune.com

Edition 4- Nerlekar School


We talk about heroes in society. Here we would like to bring you a story of an individual who survived all odds and created a school in a very remote location. Dattatreya Ganesh Nerlekar used to work with NMV as teacher for 13 years and with SP college/wadia college for 18 years under various capacities. He was denied opportunity to become principal of NMV as he was not the life member and constitution of NVM disallowed that. He had ambition to be a Principal. After his retirement, he started following up his dreams.
Having studied the educational scenario in Pune in 1982, he realized real need to start up a school is not in city but in rural area.
He formed an education trust appropriately named as Bhagirath educational trust to help him start the school with an aim to provide education to needy.
He chosed a location ramnagar , khadakwadi which is 5 kms ahead of NDA. Since this area is protected and restricted zone due to defense establishment, only source of income for residents is agriculture. Due to irregularity of rain there is water scarcity for almost 7 months of year. In 1982 there was no school in a radius of 10 kms. With help of local villagers, panchayat members they identified a spot slightly away from village over a hillock overlooking dam back waters. There was a small hut which resident Lt Baburao Paigude donated for this cause. This hut had verandah, kitchen and two cow sheds. They used verandah as office, kitchen as teacher's room and two cow sheds as classroom.
They started secondary school on10th June 1985. This school is named after late mrs Vimlabai Nerlekar wife of Prof D V Nerlekar. 92 students took admission there. Then there was no stopping from there. Many people and organizations helped the school. It is important to mention here names like tarla dalal. NMV 56 batch, mercedez benz, lions, Pune Riverside Round Table. Now there are around 500 children taking education here. Children have secured 87% marks in ten and overall passing percentage has reached 85. Looking at background and nature of children it is definitely an achieve-ment. These children have to travel 10kms on foot to reach school even in rainy days. There is tendency amongst parents to use children as farm labor etc. But in spite of this school has achieved this result.
Unfortunately, Prof D V Nerlekar is not amongst us today to witness any further growth that happens. But his dream has taken shape and has resulted into an exemplary institution. It is all about your dreams and how you follow it.
School is now looking for more help to start a technical school to provide occupational skills like computers, workshop etc to the children. Any help need to the school is appreciates School can be contacted on Mr Ravi Nerlekar's number : 9922414554 or can contact us newsdesk@cityblogpune.com

Edition 4: What is Cloud Computing


LIFE BEFORE CLOUD COMPUTING Traditional business applications have always been too complicated and expensive. They need a data center with office space, power, cooling, bandwidth, networks, servers, and storage. And a team of experts to install, configure, and run them. They need development, testing, staging, production, and fail over environ-ments.
When you multiply these headaches across dozens or hundreds of apps, it's easy to see why the biggest companies with the best IT departments aren't getting the apps they need. Small businesses don't stand a chance.
Cloud-computing: a better way Cloud computing is a better way to run your business. Instead of running your apps yourself, they run on a shared data center. When you use any app that runs in the cloud, you just log in, customize it, and start using it. That's the power of cloud computing.
Businesses are running all kinds of apps in the cloud these days, like CRM, HR, accounting, and custom-built apps. Cloud-based apps can be up and running in a few days, which is unheard of with traditional business software. They cost less, because you don't need to pay for all the people, products, and facilities to run them. And, it turns out they're more scalable, more secure, and more reliable than most apps. Plus, upgrades are taken care of for you, so your apps get security & performance enhancements and new features automatically.
The way you pay for cloud-based apps is also different. Forget about buying servers and software. When your apps run in the cloud, you don't buy anything. It's all rolled up into a predictable monthly subscription, so you only pay for what you actually use.
Finally, cloud apps don't eat up your valuable IT resources, so your CFO will love it. This lets you focus on deploying more apps, new projects, and innovation. The bottom line: Cloud computing is a simple idea, but it can have a huge impact on your business. Cloud computing platforms are growing in popularity, but why? What unique advantages does a cloud computing architecture offer to companies in today's economic climate? And what just what is cloud computing, anyway?” Let's explore the cloud computing infrastructure and its impact on critically important areas to IT, like security, infrastructure investments, business application development, and more. Most IT departments are forced to spend a significant portion of their time on frustrating implementation, mainte-nance, and upgrade projects that too often don't add significant value to the company's bottom line. Increasingly, IT teams are turning to cloud computing technology to minimize the time spent on lower-value activities and allow IT to focus on strategic activities with greater impact on the business. The fundamental cloud computing infrastructure has won over the CIOs of some of the world's largest organizations. These once-skeptical executives never looked back after experiencing first-hand the host of benefits delivered by cloud computing technology.
l Proven Web-services integration. By their very nature, cloud computing technology is much easier and quicker to integrate with your other enterprise applications (both traditional software and cloud computing infrastructure-based), whether third-party or homegrown.
l World-class service delivery. Cloud computing infrastructures offer much greater scalability, complete disaster recovery, and impressive uptime numbers.
l No hardware or software to install: a 100% cloud computing infrastructure. The beauty of cloud computing technology is its simplicity… and in the fact that it requires significantly fewer capital expenditures to get up and running.
l Faster and lower-risk deployment. You can get up and running in a fraction of the time with a cloud computing infrastructure. No more waiting months or years and spending millions of dollars before anyone gets to log into your new solution. Your cloud computing technology applications are live in a matter of weeks or months, even with extensive customization or integration.
l Support for deep customizations. Some IT professionals mistakenly think that cloud computing technology is difficult or impossible to customize extensively, and therefore is not a good choice for complex enterprises. The cloud computing infrastructure not only allows deep customization and application configuration, it preserves all those customizations even during upgrades. And even better, cloud computing technology is ideal for application development to support your organization's evolving needs.
l Empowered business users. Cloud computing technology allows on-the-fly, point-and-click customization and report generation for business users, so IT doesn't spend half its time making minor changes and running reports.
l Automatic upgrades that don't impact IT resources. Cloud computing infrastructures put an end to a huge IT dilemma: If we upgrade to the latest-and-greatest version of the application, we'll be forced to spend time and resources (that we don't have) to rebuild our customizations and integrations. Cloud computing technology doesn't force you to decide between upgrading and preserving all your hard work, because those customizations and integrations are automatically preserved during an upgrade.
l Pre-built, pre-integrated apps for cloud computing technology.
Cloud computing can be confused with:
1. Grid computing "a form of
distributed computing, whereby a
'super and virtual computer' is
composed of a cluster of
networked, loosely coupled
computers acting in concert to
perform very large tasks"
2. Utility computing the "packaging
of computing resources, such as
computation and storage, as a
metered service similar to a
traditional public utility, such as
electricity"
3. Autonomic computing "computer
systems capable of self-manage-
ment".
Indeed, many cloud computing deployments depend on grids, have autonomic characteristics, and bill like utilities, but cloud computing tends to expand what is provided by grids and utilities. Some successful cloud architectures have little or no centralized infrastructure or billing systems whatsoever, including peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent and Skype, and volunteer computing such as SETI@home. From Career Point of view IT whiz kids need to evolve and expertise various new technologies:
So what kind of skills might be needed to obtain a new opportunity created by cloud computing? These are just a few areas in which skills will be in high demand:
l Open-source programming- typically JavaScript, J2EE, Flex, Ruby on Rails, Python, Perl, HTML, XML and tools like Hadoop
l Technologies such as grid computing, utility computing and virtualization
l Understanding of Linux operating system
l Newest storage technologies
l Platform as a service and SaaS
Software as a Service. This type of cloud computing delivers a single application through the browser to thousands of customers using a multi-tenant architecture. On the customer side, it means no up front investment in servers or software licensing; on the provider side, with just one app to maintain, costs are low compared to conventional hosting. Examples include:
l Oracle CRM On Demand
l Salesforce.com
l Workday
l Google Apps
l Zoho Office
l Box.net
l TradeBeam.com
Threats : Biggest threat for Cloud Computing apart from security concerns, theft or privacy! is that no company in the world can guarantee availability Denial of service attacks are pernicious and debilitating.
Malicious hackers are looking for the most conspicuous and high profile installations ao that they can have the thrill of seeing their creations bring down the best of the best on the net!
Cloud computing as in Gmail for personal use or YouTube for watching teens with straws up their nostrils having fun singing or dancing may not have huge impacts. But will Cloud Computing scale up to serious use when it comes to mission critical applications of enterprises? Seems like we may have some way to go before we talk about serious use of Cloud Computing in the Enterprise! Once we get past this pesky problem of outages due to attacks.

Edition 4- Pronounciations


Edition 4 : Pizzas, Apple Kheer & Jeera Aloo

Paneer Pizza
Ingredients : 3 Cup Wheat Flour, 2 Cup Maida, 400g Paneer, 2 Cup Mozzarella Cheese, 1 Cup Parmesan Cheese, 1 Cup Milk, 5 tsp Curd, 2 tsp Active Dry Yeast, ½ Onion, 1/4 Cup Dried Tomatoes, 4 Sweet Bell peppers, 1/4 Cup Olive Oil, 2 tsp Butter 1/2 tsp Sugar, 2 tsp Red Chilli Powder, 1/2 tsp Jeera Powder(jeera powder), 1/2 tsp Coriander Powder 1/4 tsp Garam Masala, 2 tsp Tandoori Masala, 1/2 tsp Garlic Paste, 1/2 Spoon Ginger Paste, 1 tsp Basil Leaves , Salt to taste for paneer pizza.

METHOD FOR PANEER PIZZA
Warm a cup of water, add sugar and active dry yeast. Still well, wrap up with the clinging film and keep aside for 12 minutes to let yeast activate
In a plate mix wheat flour, Maida, olive oil, melted butter, activated yeast and salt to taste, Add milk and knead the soft dough. Keep it in a large bowl covered with clinging film for around 2 ½ hours to double in size. In a bowl, mix curd, garlic paste, ginger paste, jeera powder, coriander powder, Garam masala, tandoori masala and salt to taste for paneer pizza. Marinate the cubed paneer with this curd mixture and refrigerate it till the time pizza dough is doubling up
When the dough is doubled up, divide it into two portions and spread it on pizza pans Spread parmesan cheese, grated mozzarella cheese on top of the pizza base Spread the cubed paneer pieces, bell pepper slices, onion slices and dried tomato evenly on top of it
Sprinkle basil leaves Preheat oven to 400F/200C Bake the pizza at 400F/200C for 25 minutes. Serve hot paneer pizza.
JEERA ALOO
Cumin potato Ingredients for Jeera aloo-cumin potato : 2 large potato, cut into fingers like French fries. 1 tsp cumin seeds.1 tsp chilli powder. ¼ tsp turmeric powder. 2 tsp coriander powder. 2 tsp oil. Salt to taste for Jeera aloo-cumin potato.
Method for Jeera aloo-cumin potato In a micro wave safe bowl, add oil and cumin seeds, micro for 1 min. In the rest of the ingredients, cover with a lid ,micro for 6 min until the potato soft, served hot garnished with coriander. Serves Jeera aloo-cumin potato for 2 persons
APPLE KHEER- VERY GOOD FOR KIDS

Ingredients of apple kheer 1 cup peeled apple and grated. 2 cup full fat milk (milk kheer). ½ cup condensed milk.
2 tsp sugar. ½ tsp nutmeg powder.
view for apple kheer.
HOW TO MAKE KHEER
Combine the all ingredients expect the nutmeg powder in a microwave safe bowl and mix well. Micro for 6 min, stirring once in a between after 3 min. Add the nut mug powder and mix well and micro again for 1 min. Served apple kheer chilled.

Edition 4; Quiz

An instrument to measure temperature is called -
Choose one of the following:
HydrometerThermometer ¨
Gyrometer ¨
Tempometer ¨
Another name for a twister is: Choose one of the following:
Earthquake ¨
Tornado ¨
Wind ¨
Flood ¨
Albatross is:
Choose one of the following:
A sea bird ¨
A beetle ¨
A fruit ¨
A city ¨
It bears the closest resemblance to man
Choose one of the following:
Panda ¨
Rhino ¨
Chimpanzee ¨
Elephant ¨
The planet closest to the sun is:
Choose one of the following:
Neptune ¨
Mercury ¨
Venus ¨
Saturn ¨
The blanket of air that envelops the earth is called:
Choose one of the following:
Upper crust ¨
Hydrosphere ¨
Lithospere ¨
Atmosphere ¨
The number of bones in the Human face is:
Choose one of the following:
14 ¨
33 ¨
15 ¨
The layer that protects the earth from UV radiations:
Choose one of the following:
Nitrogen ¨
Ozone layer ¨
Methane ¨
Magnesium oxide ¨
The Kalahari desert is in:
Choose one of the following:
India ¨
Chile ¨
Australia ¨
Botswana ¨
Lunar eclipse refers to the eclipse caused by the:
Choose one of the following:
Sun ¨
Mars ¨
Moon ¨
Venus ¨
An astronomical measure of distance is called:
Choose one of the following:
Kilometre ¨
Yard ¨
Light Year ¨
The largest land animal is:
Choose one of the following:
Panther ¨
Lion ¨
Whale ¨
African Bush Elephant ¨
The top crust of the Earth is called:
Choose one of the following:
Lithosphere ¨
Asthenosphere ¨
Stratosphere ¨
Atmosphere ¨
CO2 refers to:
Choose one of the following:
Carbon Monoxide ¨
Methane ¨
Carbon Dioxide ¨
Cobalt ¨
Rain polluted by a build-up of acids in the air is called
Choose one of the following:
Hailstorm ¨
Acid rain ¨
Tornado ¨
Drizzling ¨
Atoms of the same element containing different number of neutrons is called:
Choose one of the following:
Isomer ¨
Ion ¨
Isotope ¨
Molecule ¨

LOGIC PUZZLE
You are on an island and there are three crates of fruit that have washed up in front of you. One crate contains only apples. One crate contains only oranges. The other crate contains both apples and oranges.

Each crate is labeled. One reads "apples", one reads "oranges", and one reads "apples and oranges". You know that NONE of the crates have been labeled correctly - they are all wrong.
If you can only take out and look at just one of the pieces of fruit from just one of the crates, how can you label ALL of the crates correctly?

Edition 4 : PhotoFrame

PHOTO FRAME
How do we make sure that our favourite person stays by our side at most times? Simple - we frame their photographs and keep them in a place where we can always see them. What fun if we could make the photo frames too! And it is not at all difficult.
The things you need:
1. Ice Cream sticks. 2. Adhesive.
3. Colours. 4. Thick string or wire.
Step 1 Collect around 15 ice cream sticks. For the base of the frame, stick the ice cream sticks as shown in the picture.
Step 2 Leave half-an-inch space from all the sides and glue four sticks on the base to make the upper layer of the frame.
Step 3 Slide the photograph through the gap.
Step 4 Take a thick wire or a string to make a loop. Stick the two ends of the loop at the back of the frame. You can now hang your photo frame.
You can draw a variety of patterns on the side of your photo frame with the help of crayons.

Edition 4- Domestic News







26/11 ANNIVERSARY
Marking the first anniversary of the November 26 terror attacks, the city police today held a parade here and paid homage to those killed in the dastardly strikes.
Maharashtra's counter terror unit, Force One, and Quick Response Teams (QRT) participated in the parade that began from the Nariman Point area, which is just a stone throw away from Trident hotel, one of the places attacked by the terrorists last year.
Besides, advanced combat vehicles and other weaponry procured post 26/11 attacks were also displayed.
Chief minister Ashok Chavan and deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal were also present at the event.
The parade ended at Girguam-Chowpatty in south Mumbai
From Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, eminent Indians from different walks of life came forward to express their solidarity against terror.
Indian Cricket team observed one minute silence at the opening of 3rd days play of kanpur test against Srilanka.
Top brass of the Tata group met the employees of Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel on the evening of 26/11, the sole thought that went through everybody's mind was to look at tomorrow.

Dr. MANMOHAN SINGH’S US VISIT

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has wound up his visit to Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, where he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), and left for India last week.
During the first leg of his visit, Dr. Singh was in Washington where he met US President Barack Obama in Washington. He was the first state guest under the new administration.
Dr Singh held talks with Obama on the entire gamut of bilateral relations, situation in the region and global challenges like terrorism, climate change and economic crisis.
It was President Obamas first state visit and marked by a dinner hosted at white house where there were many prominent Indian Americans present. This visit was covered extensively by US media which till date was not so interested in Indian matters. Only reason can be contributions by Indian American community in US.
Prime minister also appealed the Indian Americans to return back to India. He also met French President Nicholas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper at CHOGUM.
Describing his tour as very productive, Dr. Singh said, “I am confident that we cannot only continue, but also strengthen the momentum of our relations built up in the last few years.”
In Port of Spain, where he attended a two-day meeting of the Commonwealth leaders, the Prime Minister had pushed for a “legally binding substantive outcome” at the Copenhagen climate change meet next month.
The 53-nation Commonwealth agrees that the upcoming Copenhagen meet should come out with an ambitious mitigation outcome, as there was a need for an “urgent and substantial” action to reduce global emissions. This was explained in earlier City-Blog edition.

INDIA’S ROAD TO TOP WILL BE DEFINED IN MUMBAI TEST

India will reach the top of the ICC test rankings for the first time if they win the third and final test against Sri Lanka starting Wednesday.
India lead the series 1-0 after thumping Sri Lanka by an innings and 144 runs in last week's second test in Kanpur and have been given an added incentive to make it 2-0.
India are currently third on the world rankings behind South Africa (first) and Sri Lanka (second) but are close enough to leapfrog them both with a victory in Mumbai.
Climbing to the top spot would undoubtedly represent a major milestone in Indian cricket but captain Mahendra Dhoni has tried to play down the significance, warning his players just to concentrate on the match and forget about the rankings.
"It will be an added responsibility," he said. “Becoming the number one side is not important, we've got to maintain our performance level."
India's chances of beating the Sri Lankans have already suffered a blow with in-form opener Gautam Gambhir, the world's top-ranked batsman, pulling out of the match to attend his sister's wedding.
The left-handed Gambhir has played a significant role in India's great start to the series, scoring centuries in each of the first two tests and sharing in a 233-run opening stand with fellow centurion Virender Sehwag in Kanpur.
He is expected to be replaced by Murali Vijay, an exciting but relatively inexperienced batsmen who played his only test against Australia last year.
Batsmen have dominated the series so far with 10 centuries in the two tests although Indian medium-pacer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth gave the seam bowlers some hope with a five wicket haul in the first innings in Kanpur.
Although they cannot win the series, the Sri Lankans are eying their own slice of history and are putting their faith in spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
They never won a test on Indian soil and the form of Muralitharan remains a real cause of concern with the world record holder managing just five wickets at a cost of 396 runs.
"We got the worst bowling conditions in the last two tests," Muralitharan said.
"We didn't have the bowlers, that was one of the factors."
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara remains confident Muralitharan can recover and play a starring role in what will be his final test away from home.
"He is still the best bowler that has played the game," Sangakkara said.
"So you still have to have faith in him and trust him and keep backing him 100 per cent to do the job because he is going to do it at one point.
"We have still got a lot to achieve in Mumbai. Whether we can win the series or not, we can still equal the series and finish the series 1-1. That is a great motivation for us."
The comeback man S Sreeshant claimed 6 wickets on flat pitch to be named as Man of the match in second test.

Edition 4- Tiger Woods


Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods
(born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No. 1, he was the highest-paid professional athlete in 2008, having earned an estimated $110 million from winnings and endorse-ments.
Woods has won fourteen professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player, and 71 PGA Tour events, third all time. He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour.
Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record nine times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons. He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year a record-tying four times, and is the only person to be named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year more than once.
Since his record-breaking win at the 1997 Masters Tournament, golf's increased popularity is attributed to Woods' presence. He is credited for dramatically increasing prize money in golf, generating interest in new audiences as the first person of color to win the Masters, and for drawing the largest TV audiences in golf history.
Woods was born in Cypress, California to Earl (1932-2006) and Kultida (Tida) Woods (born 1944). He is the only child of their marriage but has two half-brothers, Earl Jr. (born 1955) and Kevin (born 1957), and one half-sister, Royce (born 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray. Earl, a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran, was of mixed African American (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent) and Native American (25 percent) ancestry. Kultida (née Punsawad), originally from Thailand, is of mixed Thai (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent), and Dutch (25 percent) ancestry. This makes Woods himself one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch. He refers to his ethnic make-up as “Cablinasian” (a syllabic abbreviation he coined from Caucasian, Black, (American) Indian, and Asian). Since his mother is Thai, when Woods came to Thailand for a tournament in 2000, the Thai officials tried to bestow on him royal decorations, and even offered him Thai citizenship. Woods politely turned them down. Woods has a niece named Cheyenne Woods who is a promising amateur golfer at Wake Forest University.
At birth, Woods was given "Eldrick" and "Tont" as first and middle names. His middle name, Tont, is a traditional Thai name. He got his nickname from a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, to whom his father had also given the "Tiger" nickname.
He became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf, he was simply known as "Tiger" Woods. He grew up in Orange County, California and graduated from Western High School in Anaheim in 1994.
Woods is a Buddhist. He has said that his faith was acquired from his mother and that it helps control both his stubbornness and impatience.
Marriage
In November 2003, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model. They were introduced during The Open Championship in 2001 by Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as an au pair. They married on October 5, 2004 at the Sandy Lane resort on the Caribbean island of Barbados and live at Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. They also have homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California, and Sweden. In January 2006, they purchased a $39 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida, which they intend to make their primary residence. Their Jupiter Island neighbors will include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson. In 2007, a guest house on the Jupiter Island estate was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning.
Early in the morning of June 18, 2007, Elin gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, in Orlando. The birth occurred just one day after Woods finished tied for second in the 2007 U.S. Open.
Tiger chose to name his daughter Sam because his father said that Tiger looked more like a Sam. On September 2, 2008, Woods announced on his website that he and his wife were expecting their second child. Five months later, it was announced that Elin had given birth to a boy, named Charlie Axel on February 8, 2009.
Early life and amateur career
Woods (age 2) on The Mike Douglas Show. From left, Tiger Woods, Mike Douglas, Earl Woods and Bob Hope.
Woods was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he putted against comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, he shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California, and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible. In 1984 at the age of eight he won the 910 boys' event, the youngest age group available, at the Junior World Golf Championships. He went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991.
While attending Western High School in Anaheim at the age of 15, Woods became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion, was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, and Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player of the Year 1991. He defended his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, becoming the first multiple winner, competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year and Golfweek National Amateur of the Year in 1992.
The following year, Woods won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and remains the event's youngest-ever and only multiple winner. In 1994, he became the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, a record that stood until 2008 when it was broken by Danny Lee. He was a member of the American team at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships and 1995 Walker Cup. Woods enrolled at Stanford University in the fall of 1994, and won his first collegiate event, the 40th Annual William H. Tucker Invitational in September. He declared a major in Economics and was nicknamed "Urkel" by his college teammates. In 1995, he defended his U.S. Amateur title, and was voted Pac-10 Player of the Year, NCAA First Team All-American, and Stanford's Male Freshman of the Year (an award that encompasses all sports). He participated in his first PGA Tour major, the Masters Tournament, and tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. At age 20 in 1996, he became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles and won the NCAA individual golf championship. In winning the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship, he tied the record for an amateur aggregate score of 281.
He left college after two years and turned professional.
To be Continued....

Edition 4: Pune City in 1980s

PL Deshpande had one observation about Pune. Immense Nostalgia, a typical phrase meaning 'things were different in old times' can be heard from Pensioner block, Offices, houses, and as well schools. Even youngsters/toddlers have something defined as 'their own time' as per PL. Thus one can conclude that generation gap widens in pune after every 4-5 years. That's a fact as we are seeing a tremendous change in our social fabric since 90's. IT is one of the drivers here in Pune. I have most of my classmates /friends coming from modest old wadas now living international lifestyle thanks to IT revolution. This is one side of story. On other side, we see a uncontrollable growth with a lot of migration from all over india zeroing on Pune. Pune did have slums esp Dandekar bridge, Janawadi, etc. But now its expanding in fringe areas. Pune still carries old charms like greenery. In fact i can say pune is now better in terms of forestation esp on hillside. I remember that ARAI hill, warje hill were barren when i was in school. now they are green. Threat is from builders and corporators who have construction plan (DP) on hill slopes. Environmentalists have objected rightfully. But city in itself has lost green cover owing to construction. But things have not gone beyond repairs. Climate has changed since 05, heavy and unpredictable rain pattern, very hot summers and non existent winters are the order of the day. Earlier winters used to be severe and we used to enjoy in our school days. it was cold , we used to wear sweaters even in daytime, nights were fun inside blankets. Summer evenings were marked by cool breeze, rains were moderate. Old city had old wadas. wadas were lifestyle.
Hanging around with wada mates at sarasbaug, sambhaji park was in thing. Today it must be CCD, barista. Camp area had old city charm and outing to camp was an event. Chole bhature from mona food, sandwiches from marz etc. Now camp has lost that charm a bit with mushrooming of similar MNC joints all across. Deccan was the most happening place. Kothrud, Aundh, baner were other cities just like what we have PCMC today. Sahakarnagar was the most fashionable address for middle class and Deccan for upper classes. Old city masses migrated from peths to these areas (kothrud, aundh, baner, sinhagad rd) in mid 80s when there was some boom thanks to Rajiv Gandhi liberal window. STD booths were around with quarter charges post 10 pm. Many icecream joints flourished in summer. Mobiles were not there (how did we live then must be question to todays generation). We used to hire VCRs to see movies collectively in wadas. ganpati fest has regained some sense. In our time it was uncontrolled noise pollution etc. But we used to enjoy drama etc at our wada ganapati which many people still do even today in societies. Diwali was much polluted and boisterous those days. Today maybe due to cost or awareness pollution is down a bit (still beyond acceptable limits). We got into outside eating habits in mid 80s thanks to my relatives (esp ones from Mumbai). Till then we were restricted to dosa or max a thali plate with all family together. Alka or Rahul were the most happening movie theaters to see good western movies. Still i remember the hype around guns of navarone, or where eagle dare or absent minded professor etc. Hollywood movies those days were much better (that's my opinion, experts may differ and debate). Hindi movies meant Bacchan. Now we have variety. Drama had only bharat, tilak and balgandharv.
Cont. On Page 15
We preferred bharat as it seemed that a play gets better performances there. Children dramas were rampant in summer vacations. Summer vacations meant learning bicycles (by renting them for 50 ps per night), cricket at sp ground in evening, swimming batch, mangoes and playing cards. Miss those acutely. Trekking took popularity thanks to YH, Yuvashakti.
Pune Mumbai journey meant Trains and not expressway. Road travel meant ST. Deccan Queen had great charm with Omlette toast as high point. Asiad Buses started in mid 80s. Shopping meant laxmi rd especially for clothes. Groceries meant local vani. A lecture/speech was still meaningful evening entertainment.
Going to mandirs with grand parents meant incentive of prasad. Sunday evenings meant TV movies. We had only DD. But quality was much much superior than millions of channels today. Marathi DD was excellent: gajra, even amchi mati (agro show) had very entertaining Gappa goshti, Kilbil, Saptahiki, Chayageet. serials started in mid 80s with yeh jo hai jindagi, humlog, ramayan, kathasagar, vikram vetal and many such varied enjoyable shows. we had many quizes : Quiztime , sports quiz etc. what's the good word as well. Real quality indeed!!!
Experts can add more points for 80s. Next in this round will be 90s and then 00's. Every generation has nostalgia about Pune. And i am sure every town has that. But traditionally P L had some soft corner for Pune as he was bit harsher on Punekars and that too sadashiv peth residents like me which still feel was unjustified. But PL is PL who can say a word. Buck stops there

Edition 4: International News




Dubai Financial Crisis Explained
Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates, seven city-states which have separate ruling families, separate budgets, but security, immigration and foreign policies in common. Abu Dhabi has nearly all the UAE's oil. To keep up, Dubai from the 1950s on diversified its economy into ports, trade, services and finance, largely successfully. But its liquidity-fuelled real estate and tourism binge in the last decade may have been one step too far.
The emirate has said it has $80bn of debts, though some analysts say the true figure could be double that. Dubai World, the state-owned holding company whose bail-out plans triggered the current crisis, has liabilities of about $60bn, though only part of that is debt. The main problem is its real estate subsidiary Nakheel, which has huge bonds coming due, including an Islamic bond for $3.5bn in December. It appears to have little cash flow to meet payments - as well as relying on debt, it also sold most developments off-plan, with new developments now on hold. Here are few questions that come to mind
Q. The big market crash after Lehman Brothers folded was more than a year ago. Why has Dubai only just been hit?
A. The property crash hit Dubai at the time - house prices fell 50 pc in six months. Nakheel was known to be in trouble. But investors assumed that as a state-owned company it would not default on its debt. The government refused to issue detailed statements of how it was to handle Dubai World's debt problems, and rounded on those who said that the crash had undermined Dubai's development model.
This encouraged a belief that a rescue package was already in place, probably funded by Abu Dhabi. The statement on Wednesday that the government was asking for a six-month standstill on repayments implied the rescue was in doubt.
Q. Why hasn't Abu Dhabi come to Dubai's aid? It has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund.
A. Abu Dhabi has, via the federal central bank, bought one $10bn bond issued by the Dubai government earlier this year, and, via its own banks, bought another $5bn bond this week. But the latter came with a rider that it was not to be used for the Dubai World bail-out. This raises two questions: what are the other debts for which it is to be used? And how is the Dubai World debt to be met, even after the six-month delay, if Abu Dhabi will not fund the rescue package?
Q. What about other Dubai companies? How are they doing?
A. Dubai World owns DP World, the successful ports operator which bought P&O. Other arms of the Dubai government, and the ruling family's directly owned holding companies, also own successful companies such as Emirates Airlines and Jumeirah Hotels, as well as stakes in buildings and businesses around the world, including the London Stock Exchange. But the emirate's lack of transparency and relatively untested financial legal system means that no-one knows if these can be demanded as collateral against Dubai World and other government debts.
Q. Nevertheless, exposure of western banks to the debt seems quite small compared to the trillions of dollars to which we have become accustomed. Why the panic?
A. At the most basic level, fears that exposed banks will have to write down losses, and that both Dubai and Abu Dhabi may have to sell worldwide assets, has hit prices everywhere. At an "animal spirits" level, the disclosure of significant unforeseen problems in Dubai has refocused attention on where else might have hidden "black holes". The health of sovereign debt worldwide, already seen as the major financial issue for the next decade, is also being reexamined.
Q. Can Dubai survive?
A. Dubai is still seen as the premier place to do business in the Middle East and beyond. It is a preferred base for not just Arab but Pakistani, Iranian and even Indian businesses, due to the wider region's political uncertainty. Its reputation for liberal attitudes helps. But events this week have damaged its reputation for economic competence, which the emirate's rulers will now have to work hard to restore.

Gate Crashers At White House

Two influential American Senators have demanded action against the US couple who gate crashed into the First State Dinner hosted in honour of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an incident which has put a question mark on the security of the White House.
An investigation has been ordered into the episode, has brought instant "in famous" celebrity status to Tareq and Michaele Salahi.
There needs to be a strong deterrent against this kind of thing, and therefore they should be in some way brought to justice here, again, as an example to others not to do it as expessed by senator John Kyll.
But somehow it is a world that seems to offer wealth and fame to those outsiders who manage to enter it.
And it was in pursuit of both that Tareq and Michaele Salahi bamboozled their way into last week's White House dinner for the Indian prime minister. Just like all charlatans and swindlers over the centuries, they managed it by looking and acting the part. He is of South Asian origin, which seemed right; he also wore black tie and what looks, in the photographs, like a state decoration or medal. She is a striking, professionally coiffed blonde and wore a sari -- a glamorous, red, expensive sari. Having managed to get previous meetings with Prince Charles and Oprah Winfrey (Michaele even finagled her way into Redskinettes alumni parties), they knew how to behave around the contemporary aristocracy: Simply act as if you belong, don't stare too hard at the celebrities, don't eat or drink too much, and do engage your neighbors in light chit-chat about the Kashmir conflict and the Indian gross domestic product. Since hardly anyone knows anyone else at this kind of party, you can get away with it. But US administration wows to take action

Edition 4: Solved NTSE Questions

DIRECTIONS:
In each of the following questions, a series of numbers is given followed by a blank space with a (?) question mark on it. The number to fill in the blank is given has one of the alternative among the five given under each question. Find the correct alternative in each case.
Q1. 3, 18, 43, 78, 123,?
(a) 169 (b) 178
(c) 163 (d) 153
(e) 157
Ans.The Arithmetic mean difference between the two consecutive numbers is increasing 10 as 15 25 35 45. So the numbers will be 123 + 55 = 178
Q2. 1, 5, 13, 29, 61, 125, ?
(a) 252 (b) 258 (c) 255 (d) 253 (e) None of these The mean difference between the consecutive numbers are
Ans. 1 5 13 29 61 125 ?
4 8 16 32 64 128
So 125 + 128 = 253
Q3. 49, 343, 64, ?, 81, 729
(a) 1024 (b) 512 (c) 778 (d) 182 (e) None of these
Ans.
The first and second terms are square cube of 7, 5th and 6 th terms are square and cube of 9. So third and fourth terms are square and cubes of 8. 83 = 512
Q4. 55296, ?, 288, 36, 9.
(a) 3456 (b) 3436
(c) 4638 (d) 3638
(e) None of these.
Ans.
9/36 36/288 288/x x/55296 ¼ 1/8 1/12 1/16 like this.
So 288/x = 1/12 or x = 3456
Q5. 30, 56, 90, 132, 182, ?
(a) 3627 (b) 3234
(c) 1206 (d) 2412
(e) None of these.
Ans. (A)

DIRECTIONS:
The six faces of a cube are painted in a manner that no two adjacent faces have the same colour. The three colour used in the painting are red, blue and green. The cube is then cut into 64 equal cubical parts. Answer the following questions.
Q6. How many cubes in all have three sides painted?
(a) 24 (b) 16
(c) 10 (d) 8
(e) None of these
Ans. (d)
Q7. How many cubes have only two sides painted?
(a) 16 (b) 24
(c) 8 (d) 6
(e) None of these.
Ans. (b)
Q8. How many cubes have one and two sides painted but the third side is not painted.
(a) 28 (b) 24
(c) 48 (d) 64
(e) None of these
Ans. (c)
Q9. How many cubes are there whose only one side is painted?
(a) 24 (b) 4
(c) 48 (d) 64
(e) None of these
Ans. (a)

Q10. How many cubes are there which has no sides painted?
(a) 8 (b) 64
(c) 36 (d) 48
(e) 16
Ans. (a)

DIRECTIONS:The following questions are based on letter series from which some of the letters are missing. The missing letters are given in the proper sequence as are of the alternative among the five given under each question. Find the correct alternative for each case.
Q11. aab-aaa-bba-
(a) bab (b) abb
(c) baa (d) bba
(e) None of these
Ans. (C)
Q12. abba - baaabba - bbaaa
(a) aaa (b) aba
(c) bba (d) abab
(e) None of these
Ans. (a)
Q13. abaaaba - a - a
(a) aab (b) abb
(c) aba (d) bba
(e) None of these
Ans. (a)
Q14. b - a - aab - ab
(a) abaaa (b) ababa
(c) aabba (d) bbaba
(e) babab
Ans. (a)
Q15. p - x - pt - txppt
(A) ptxptx (b) pxtptx
(c) ptptxt (d) xptxpt
(e) tpxppx
Ans. (e)

DIRECTIONS: In each of the following question apply the interchanging of the codes to choose correct alternative.
Q16. If PRESS = RESSP
Then SMLE = ?
(a) SMLE (b) SMILE
(c) SLME (d) SLMIE
(e) None of these
Ans. (B)
Q17. If STUPID = STUPID then CYCLES?
(a) CYESCL (b) CYLECS
(c) CYELCS (d) CYECSL
(e) CYLCES
Ans. (e)
Q18. If ROTUND = RONDTU, then PATATO = ?
(a) POTOTA (b) POTOAT
(c) PATOO (d) POOTAT
(e) POOATT
Ans. (a)

Edition 4 : Deccan Gymkhana







Quest for development of sports and sportsmanship amongst the youths, led the foundation of Deccan Gymkhana in 1906, the pre-Independence era, when sports was the least concept of recreation amongst the Indians.
Establishment of Deccan Gymkhana can be conveniently related to the enthusiasm towards cricket, commonly found amongst the Indians during the fag end of 19th century. These cricket passionate puneites started playing the game of cricket at the outskirts of Pune city. Gradually the fervor raised to its summit, with the players volunteering relentless efforts to nurture this piece of land so as to enjoy good game of cricket. This laid the cornerstone of the Deccan Gymkhana club.
Young Mens Cricket Club was established with an objective to provide better opportunities to young cricketers. Afterwards, the members of this club grouped into two, one being the Deccan Gymkhana. Many renowned cricketers have honed their skills practicing their game at Deccan Gymkhana cricket ground.
During the year 1913, wrestling competitions were ogranized by Deccan Gymkhana in it premises with zealous participation from all quarters of the society. Wrestling started to blossom at Deccan Gymkhana and subsequently formed a major activity at Deccan Gymkhana. This laid the foundation of Athalye Pavilion, the place where these days a stat of an art gymnasium is being run.
The development work at this place, a residential colony was planned with a view to execute the expansion of club and the infrastructure in an efficient way. The construction work of this excavation, live water springs were unearthed and the visionary founder members of this club gave a thought to make use of this natural water for developing a swimming pool. Thus the only swimming pool in Pune with the treat of live springs came into existence. Swimming pool was followed by development of tennis courts, badminton halls and table tennis facility.
In 1923, the great Mahatma Gandhi extended his courtesy visit to Deccan Gymkhana and was extremely delighted and impressed with the activities and proposed objective of Deccan Gymkhana.
The management team at Deccan Gymkhana sought cooperation from Sir George Loyyed, the then Governor of Mumbai province, who extended generous concessions to Deccan Gymkhana to run its activities.
As the days passed, Deccan Gymkhana broadened its base by adding a exclusive gymnasium to the infrastructure.
The Indian contingent participate in the Olympic Events for the first time during 1920 Olympic games at Antwerp. The selection trials for Wrestling & Athletics were conducted on Deccan Gymkhana, thanks to the contemporary facilities at the club and relentless efforts of the then administrators. Legendry J C Owen has made a proud mention of Deccan Gymkhanas contribution to sports in his book based on the topic Sports in India in 1927/28. Billiards & Cards department was introduced alongwith the existing facilities. We can proudly state that renowned billiards players Wilson Jones commissioned his career in Billiards at Deccan Gymkhana.
About tennis, initially there were only three courts, which were increased later on considering the continuos demand for the game. In 1938 a tennis match between legends like Bill Tilden and Henry Koshet was arranged at Deccan Gymkhana.
A cricket match between Indian team and Deodhar XI was arranged at our cricket ground in 1947 in honour or Prof. D.B. Deodhar, the Pitamah of Indian Cricket. World reckoned Yoga Guru - Dr. B.K. Iyyengar, regularly conducted yoga classes at Deccan Gymkhana on invitation.
Not restricting the creative thinking for the development of club only, the then administrators took inexorable efforts to establish sports governing bodies to execute the development of respective games in Maharashtra.
Coming back to Tennis, in 1962 a tennis match was played between Ramnathan Krishnana and Emerson on the sand courts of Deccan Gymkhana. Subsequently, considering the inconvenience caused due to the sand courts, development of tennis courts with Non Slippery stone base was undertaken.
This raised the number of tennis courts in Deccan Gymkhana to 7. Today, Deccan Gymkhana can proudly offer 11 tennis courts, with 7 synthetic surfaced courts and 3 of them equipped with floodlight facility.
With excellent sports facilities to offer, Deccan Gymkhana got the opportunity to his Davis Cup tie between Indian and Pakistan in 1963. This tradition continued with three more Davis Cup tournaments against Japan (1969), West Germany (1970) and Russia (1974), taking place at Deccan Gymkhana courts. Soon Deccan Gymkhana was reckoned as the heart of sports culture ;in this part of the state. This rich tradition of sports culture continued its journey through out the last century, wit6h refinement.
This legacy of sports, health & fitness has helped Deccan Gymkhana produce as many as 41 Shiv Chattrapati / Arjun Awardees (State / National awards for excellence in sports), with more than 12 players representing India in varous desciplines and many more National players.

Edition 4- Money & Savings


How does A for Asset B for Budget sound? Too heavy for your child? Not much, I would say only if your child is aware that C also stands for cash and S for savings! In todays fast lifestyle, an Apple a day goes on the optional list but the cash that we spend for our daily billing is non optional. And this cash essentially comes from our earnings and the saving that we manage to do.
Unfortunately in todays environ-ment, where some parents try to substitute “their time” with expensive toys and gadgets bought with “their money” , we cannot blame the child for not exactly understanding the importance of money and savings. The moot point here is not whether we can afford it but making our children understand whether they need it and that there is more to money than just spending it freely. In this regard, being a role model yourself is the best way to teach your child how to handle money. If your actions and words show a healthy respect for money, your child will surely follow suite. Give your child pocket money, but not before you make make him understand that the allowance is part of the overall weekly/monthly budget of the family. And make sure you don't bail him out for that video game or that box of fancy crayons if he spends all of it in the first couple of days. Once the effects of reckless spending become clear to him, small piggy bank savings will automatically follow. Teach your child to distinguish between needs and wants and accordingly help him set a goal to save and then spend the savings at appropriate time. If need be, keep your own piggy bank alongside your children and save the loose change that we have in our pocket at the end of the day. This will encourage your child to save more. At a later stage, give your child the responsibility of atleast a portion of his expenditure. You can do a budget sitting with them which shows things they spend on to show them where all the cash goes. Coupled with good saving habits, budgeting will help him plan his much desired cricket bat or the extra pair of shoes which otherwise may not be possible in his single allowance of pocket money. As good parents , we should see to it that we do not meet all their demands. Having said that, please do not overdo the money talk. In certain cases completely refrain from discussing bigger expenses like his tuition fees or school fees even if they are burdening your own budget. Avoid sentences like” do you have any idea how much I working just to…..” , lest your child might develop a guilty feeling about the whole thing and defeat our basic purpose to teach him the importance of money and savings. Remember that inculcating sound saving habits is as important as educating him. And this one takes time and patience. But once learnt and imbibed , your child will recognize it as one of the best gifts we have given him throughout his lifetime. As the great Benjamin Franklin once said : “A penny saved is a Penny earned” .