On Christmas Eve, the bell of the historic Christ Church on the Ridge rang at midnight after 35 years. The 150-year-old bell was working till the 1980s but due to the unavailability of spare parts and non-maintenance, it was abandoned. The structure was broken and removed.
The bell used to ring 15 minutes before the prayer. “It has now been restored,” Victor Dean, a retired mechanical engineer, who took the responsibility to repair the bell on the request of the Church management, told The Sunday Guardian. The playing structure had been reconstructed, the missing parts were manufactured in Shimla and other parts were brought from Chandigarh. The bell had been renovated and was fully functional, he said, adding that it took 20 days to repair the bell.
Back in action
FOOTBALL RETURNS TO KASHMIR
Srinagar was in a gala mood on Thursday. The Real Kashmir team defeated defending champions Chennai City 2-1 to score its first victory of the ongoing I-League season. The sporting action returned to the Valley after four months. Amidst high security, the TRC ground was packed. Real Kashmir has now moved to the seventh place in the standings with five points, while the defending champions have dropped to eighth place. Local boy Farooq was adjudged the Player of the Match.
RKFC coach David Robertson said, “This game is a good thing to happen and we have to keep up the momentum. Our boys are robust and know how to overcome difficulties.” Real Kashmir co-founder Sandeep Chattoo said:“It was a splendid win and we did it for Kashmir. The coach and the team ensured that every Kashmiri returned with a smile today.”
Brewing controversy
Revolt against Dushyant Chautala
It seems trouble is brewing in Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), the ruling BJP’s allied Jat partner. The JJP MLA from Narnaund, Ram Kumar Gautam, on Wednesday declared at a khap panchayat function that he was stepping down as the party’s national vice-president. He criticised the party chief and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala for keeping all the powers with himself. Dushyant told The Sunday Guardian that efforts were being made to talk to Gautam to understand his grievances. Gautam had defeated BJP’s Captain Abhimanyu, a minister in the previous Khattar government. He told this paper that “I will remain in the party.”
Criticising Dushyant for keeping 11 portfolios with him, Gautam said, “He should realise there are nine other MLAs in the party. Most party MLAs are disappointed over the matter.” Gautam claimed that he had played a key role in Dushyant’s victory in Uchana Kalan (Jind) and of other party MLAs. “I am deeply hurt as I was among the founders of party.”
In a remark apparently aimed at the Chautala family, he said they had a history of pulling down leaders of the “biradari”(caste). “He (Dushyant) is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.” The late Devi Lal had contested against his own relative Balram Jakhar in Sikar, Rajasthan.
Weird, is it?
LEARN ‘BHOOT VIDYA’
Do you believe in “bhoots” (ghosts)? Would you like to be a ghost buster? Come to Varanasi to learn all about “invisible beings”.
You can learn “Bhoot Vidya” or the science of the paranormal in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), which is starting a six-month certificate course on this subject coming January. We are told that Bhoot Vidya is basically psychotherapy and during the course, students would be taught about remedies and psychotherapy to treat psychosomatic disorders and abnormal psychological conditions caused by unknown reasons which many consider a “bhoot” (ghosts).
Yamini Bhushan Tripathi, the Ayurveda faculty Dean, told this paper that the remedies to psychosomatic disorders and ailments caused by ghosts will be taught to doctors holding Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree holders. It deals with the Ayurvedic remedies of treating ghost-related ailments and psychosomatic disorders. According to her, Bhoot Vidya is one of the eight basic branches of Ashtanga Ayurveda. It mainly deals with psychosomatic disorders, diseases caused by unknown reasons and diseases of mind or psychic conditions..
Never missed an election
Delhi’s Oldest Voter Dies At 111
Bachan Singh, the oldest voter of Delhi, died on Monday at the ripe old age of 111. In May, he hit the headlines when he voted in the Lok Sabha elections. A paralysis attack around 11 months ago had rendered the centenarian bedridden. He had grown frail, according to the family. He had not been eating properly for the past three to four days. Bachan Singh had never missed out on voting in an election since 1951, his youngest son, Jasbeer Singh (63) told this paper.
