G Plus Volume1 Issue 38

VOL 01 | ISSUE 38 | JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

`10 

24 Pages 

GUWAHATI 

DRINKING 

IMPURE 

MILK 

PG 02 

Cobie Smulders 

Catching Up, Pg 24 

QUEENS OF 

FOOTBALL 

PG 06 

CATCHING THE 

FANCY: DSLRs 

PG 

No 

21 

With no Milk Act in 

place to govern and 

regulate the milk, 

the individual vendors 

and sellers are 

having a field time 

by charging high 

prices and selling 

adulterated milk as 

well. 

Ward watch 

@ 

KATABARI 

Ward No 7 

PG 

No10

2 

Lead Story 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

GUWAHATI 

DRINKING IMPURE MILK 

With no Milk Act in place to govern and regulate the milk, the individual vendors and sellers 

are having a field time by charging high prices and selling adulterated milk as well. 

Mrinmoyee Hazarika 

In the absence of a Milk Act, milk 

vendors (or guwals in colloquial 

language) residing in and around 

the city have been selling adulterated 

or tainted milk, charging whichever 

rate they want from the customers. 

This practice of selling adulterated 

milk has been going on for many 

years now and this ultimately affects 

the overall health condition of the 

people of the city. The situation is an 

alarming one for a city like Guwahati, 

where children comprise of 9.01% 

of the total population according to 

the last census done in 2011. 

Where do we stand? 

Looking at the recommendations, 

as provided by the Indian 

Council of Medical Research (IC- 

CMR), the average per capita consumption 

of milk should be 270 millilitres. 

Taking this into account, if we 

calculate the demand for milk in Guwahati, 

on the basis of the parameters 

provided by ICMR, we will find that 

the city requires 26,01,25,830 litres of 

milk. According to 2011 census, Guwahati’s 

population is 963,429. 

On the other hand, according to 

the records available with the state 

veterinary department, Kamrup district 

had produced 6,78,52,010 litres 

of milk from various sources like indigenous 

and cross-cow breeds, buffaloes 

and goats during the fiscal year 

of 2012-13. The district of Kamrup 

produced 5,50,16,827 litres of milk 

during the previous fiscal of 2011-12. 

The statistics clearly mention 

that the people of the city get to consume 

roughly 56 lakh litres of milk 

per month and 1.7 lakh litres of milk 

per day during the last fiscal. 

But that entire quantity was not 

sold through the Central Dairy, run 

by the directorate of Dairy development, 

Assam. The governmentoperated 

outlet sells only a meagre 

quantity of around 2000 litres of 

milk everyday and around 40,000 litre 

are sold by other organised firms. 

The local vendors had sold the rest of 

the quantity (65,000 litres) every day. 

Nevertheless, the vendors claim to be 

selling around 90,000 to 1 lakh litres 

of milk in the city every day. 

Authority’s stand 

Contrary to the stand proclaimed 

by the local milk vendors about the 

size of their sale, the official of the 

directorate of Dairy Development 

has stated that the local vendors only 

sell around 65,000 litres of milk every 

day, but they adulterate the milk by 

mixing water and in other ways, just 

to increase the volume of their product. 

This way, the local milk vendors 

proclaim to be selling 90,000 to 1 

lakh litres of milk in the city each day. 

“There is always deficit in terms 

of distributing pasteurised or homogenous 

milk to the people of the 

city. This gap is filled up by the firms 

belonging to the organised sector like 

Purabi milk, Amul Taza and the local 

vendors. But, compared to the 

processed milk as supplied by the 

government and others from the organised 

sector, the vendors provide 

low quality adulterated milk to the 

customers. They do not even come to 

us to sell their product and instead 

prefer to go door to door to sell the 

milk produced at their own firms,” an 

official source at the Director, Dairy 

Development, Assam told G Plus. 

The local vendors who sell milk 

to the different households of the 

city, live in and around the periphery 

areas including Ninth mile, Bonda, 

Maligaon Goshala, Katabari, Chandrapur, 

and Narengi. 

“There are various dairy cooperative 

societies which produce milk 

and they have the authority to sell 

the product on their own. Besides, 

they can sell their products to us and, 

on the basis of the quality, we do the 

pricing which range between `30 to 

`35 per litre and after processing, sell 

it through our outlets at `42 per litre. 

But, the local vendors are selling their 

products to the consumers at the cost 

of `40 per litre and sometimes it even 

goes up to `50,” the source said. 

The source at the directorate 

also mentioned that the directorate 

and other organised sectors have 

been selling pasteurised milk at a low 

profit, whereas the local vendors have 

been selling low quality adulterated 

milk at a very high margin. 

“At present, there are 39 dairy cooperative 

societies operating in Kamrup 

(both metro and rural) district, 

out of which 25 are fully functional, 5 

are functional and the rest of the 9 societies 

are in a bad state,” the source 

added. 

Way out 

The only way out of the problem 

of selling and consuming adulterated 

milk is to employ a Milk Act like 

the one being implemented in other 

states like Gujarat or Bihar. The state 

of Assam has no such act in place, 

which encourages the local vendors 

or other unorganised sector to sell 

low quality milk in the markets of 

“There are various dairy cooperative 

societies which produce milk and they 

have the authority to sell the product 

on their own. Besides, they can sell 

their products to us and, on the basis 

of the quality, we do the pricing which 

range between `30 to `35 per litre and 

after processing, sell it through our 

outlets at `42 per litre” 

Milk production in Kamrup district 

In 2011-12 

Indigenous breed of cow 2,23,17,544 litres 

Cross breed 

Buffalo 

Goat 

In 2012-13 

Indigenous breed of cow 2,90,96,565 litres 

Cross breed 

Buffalo 

Goat 

2,65,60,934 litres 

46,45,071 litres 

14,93,278 litres 

3,30,74,325 litres 

46,86,538 litres 

9,94,582 litres 

Guwahati and Assam. 

“Usually, it is the duty of the food 

safety department to monitor the 

quality of the milk being sold at the 

market, but the department does not 

fall under the purview of Directorate, 

Dairy Development. Currently, 

there is only one order, Milk and 

Milk Product Ordinance (MMPO) in 

place, with the help of which we can 

monitor into the firm or individuals 

who have a production capacity of 

above 10000 litres. But, again, we do 

not have the power to punish or penalise 

if we find out that someone is 

guilty,” the source at the Directorate, 

Dairy Development, Assam said. 

In such a situation, implementing 

a Milk Act in the state is the only 

answer, after which the monitoring 

of the milk and other milk products 

being sold at the market will be much 

easier and the people will get to consume 

non-adulterated milk. 

“We have been urging the government 

to implement a milk act 

along the lines of Gujarat and Bihar. 

The act will benefit both the consumers 

as well as the producers of milk. 

The producers will be entitled to various 

incentives for the production and 

marketing of their products and at 

the same time, they will be bound to 

sell quality or pasteurised milk and 

the consumers will get good quality 

milk in return. In the presence of a 

Milk Act, we will be able to inspect 

the whole business of milk production 

and punish the guilty,” the 

source stated.

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 3 

G-View 

GHY CHILDLINE TASK FORCE 

The authorities have instituted and tried to implement moves 

FORMED BUT NOT IMPLEMENTED to check child labour, but failure to put them into action has 

rendered eradication of this malaise a near impossible task 

RAHUL CHANDA 

With people taking a pledge 

to fight against child labour 

during the Anti- 

Child Labour Day, the city still shows 

an increasing trend in the cases of 

child labour. There are many bodies 

and NGOs in Guwahati who are 

committed to working against child 

labour, even the authorities too, have 

various laws and acts in place to combat 

the issue, but many kids below 

the age of 14 are used as domestic 

and commercial helps in Guwahati. 

Child labour is illegal, but there are 

many reasons which hinder the authorities 

from completely eradicating 

the problem from the society. G Plus 

takes a look at the situation. 

Child labour cases 

From January 2012 to January 

2014, Childline Guwahati rescued 

329 child labours from the city working 

in various houses and commercial 

establishments. Protecting from 

abuse, the Childline rescued 122 

children within 2012 to 2013 and 113 

children within 2013 to 2014. The 

figure might indicate that there is a 

decrease in the number of cases, but 

according to people in the Childline, 

there are many children across the 

city who are employed as labours, but 

the cases do not get reported. 

BLURB: CHILD 

HELPLINE - 1098 

Childline India Foundation 

is a non-government organisation 

(NGO) in India that operates a telephone 

helpline called Childline, for 

children in distress. It was India’s 

first 24 hour; toll free, phone outreach 

service for children. Childline 

was first established as an experimental 

project in June 1996, by Jeroo 

Billimoria, a professor at the Tata 

Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), 

Mumbai at the department of Family 

and Child Welfare. Subsequently, 

Government of India, established 

the service across India in 1998-99, 

under the Ministry of Women and 

Child Development, as an umbrella 

organisation to support and monitor 

services across India, while also serving 

as link between the ministry and 

various NGOs working in the field. 

In Guwahati, Childline was established 

on 10th February 2001 under 

Collaborative Organisation (Indian 

Council for Child Welfare) and 

Nodal Organisation (National Institute 

of Public Cooperation and Child 

Development). Just like in the cities 

of Mumbai and Delhi, the city district 

administration too works hand 

in hand with the Childine to protect 

children from abuse. 

Once we 

went for an 

investigation 

where two girls 

below the age of 

14 were working 

as domestic help. 

We brought the 

kids to CWC and 

the kids again 

were sent back 

for foster care 

to the employer 

because the kids 

were willing to 

stay with the 

employer” 

Childline task force 

A special task force was formed 

in the city by the district administration 

in the financial year 2013-14. The 

task force is expected to have some 

doctors, a team of police, a magistrate 

from the district administration 

court, NGOs and the media. 

The task force was formed on a basis 

that it will dedicatedly work only for 

the children who require protection 

against abuse. But, the irony is that 

the district administration, after 

forming the task force, has not been 

implemented yet, as is the case with 

numerous schemes and initiatives. 

The Childline now does not have 

any dedicated team to work for rescuing 

the needy kids. According to 

sources in Childline, a lot of problem 

is faced while trying to rescue 

the children working as domestic 

help, because they require permission 

from the magistrate. As there 

is no dedicated magistrate working 

for Childline, taking permission for 

raids becomes a time consuming 

process. 

At present, whenever the unit 

receives a call to rescue any child, 

Childline has to contact the labour 

department and the police. They have 

to take permission from the magistrate 

and then rescue the child from 

the spot. The rescued child is then 

taken to the Child Welfare Commission 

(CWC), which decides what 

needs to be done with the child. The 

labour department decides on the 

employer and accordingly files a case 

or allows the employer to be freed. If 

the special task force formed by the 

district administration starts working 

efficiently, there would be a specialised 

team who can work united 

and it can be more effective. 

The reasons 

Child labour may be illegal and 

there may be many theoretical reasons 

like lack of education and lack 

of awareness behind child labour but 

the reason, which tops the charts is 

poverty. When the parents are not 

able to feed the kid and try to earn 

a square meal by making the child 

work, it becomes the beginning of the 

child labour cycle. 

All child labours are not treated 

badly and abused. According to 

Childline, there are cases where the 

employer takes good care of the education 

part. A source in Childline 

said, “Once we went for an investigation 

where two girls below the age of 

14 were working as domestic help. We 

brought the kids to CWC and the kids 

again were sent back for foster care to 

the employer because the kids were 

willing to stay with the employer. In 

foster care, the employer has to take 

care of all the requirements of the 

children till the age of 14.” The source 

added that similarly, there are many 

cases where the children are found 

to be living in decent conditions and 

situations, in spite of working with 

the employer. 

There are also cases of child 

abuse and sexual harassment and the 

Protection of Children from Sexual 

Offences Act of 2012 (POCSO), as 

accorded by the President of India, 

aims to offer protection to children 

(individuals below the age of 18) 

from sexual violence, namely sexual 

assault, sexual harassment and the 

inclusion of children in pornography. 

The Act also stipulates special courts 

for the arraignment of such sexual 

crimes committed against children. 

The POSCO Act has stricter punishments, 

but the police are not that 

aware of such acts, and do not book 

the culprits under such acts. So, sensitising 

the police of various laws and 

acts is very vital. 

Child labour and protecting 

children from any kind of abuse is 

not tough, but before eradicating the 

problem completely from the society, 

major problems like poverty should 

be dealt with which gives birth to 

such social problems. 

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

4 

In The News 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

Cybercriminals 

let off easily in ghy 

RAHUL CHANDA 

The number of cyber crimes are 

increasing day by day but with 

only a single cyber crime cell 

allotted for the entire state of Assam, 

the online criminals are being let off 

easily. 

With increasing cyber activity in 

the city, Guwahati witnesses quite a 

lot of cybercrime cases these days. Recently 

the Assam Crime Investigation 

Department (CID) arrested two persons 

from Guwahati and Dhubri who 

used to hack people’s bank account 

numbers, mobile information and 

withdraw money from their accounts, 

even deactivating the mobile alert 

services to their cell phones. The investigation 

is still on and the culprits 

are behind the bars. Similarly there 

are other cybercrime cases like fake 

social website accounts, defamatory 

messages and other, which get registered 

in the city every now and then. 

As the city is being threatened by the 

increase in the number of cybercrime 

cases, G Plus reviews the scenario. 

The CID 

“People should be more cautious 

to minimise the possibility of becoming 

a victim of cybercrimes. People 

should never share their financial and 

personal details with anyone,” said 

CID ADGP Mukesh Sahai. He added 

that cybercrime is a borderless crime 

and can be interlinked within more 

than two cities, states and even countries. 

Sahai said that there is only one 

cybercrime cell across Assam, which 

is located at the Guwahati CID office. 

The CID Cybercrime team have 

specially skilled people who are 

trained and even cybercrime specialists 

from C-DAC keep visiting to 

train the CID team. The CID cyber 

cell team furthermore educates the 

police personnel from across the state 

to combat cybercrime. According 

to Sahai, people get easily duped by 

fraudsters in the name of various lotteries, 

rewards and so on. They share 

personal and financial information 

with unknown people who get access 

to their accounts and start making illegal 

transactions without the victim’s 

knowledge. 

In addition to that, the fake accounts 

or use of people’s personal 

information to create an account and 

then defaming them is also a crime, 

which is on the rise these days. It usually 

happens in a closed group where 

the victim would not even doubt that 

the person who is acquiring the personal 

details, would misuse it. The 

personal details are probably gathered 

in Guwahati and used by a system, 

based out of America. Therefore, 

according to the CID, such cases require 

thorough research and better 

homework. 

It is easier to be on the defending side because 

technology is faster than law. Software professionals 

can create software overnight, but a law has to be 

passed in the Parliament. In the year 2000, the 

Information Technology Act was passed, but before 

that too, there were cases of cybercrime taking place 

across the country and the world.” 

The cases 

The CID has a police station 

where it registers cases and also deals 

with cases which are escalated from 

various police stations. As there is 

only one cybercrime cell across the 

state, most of those cases are dealt 

with by the CID. According to the 

department, 31 cybercrime cases 

were registered by the CID police station 

in 2012. In 2013, the department 

registered 23 cases and in 2014 till the 

month of May, the department has 

recorded 17 cases of cybercrime. 

Now, after the cases are registered, 

it is expected that they get 

solved and only then will the efficiency 

of the CID will be proven. 

But the irony is that in 2012, only five 

out of 31 cases got disposed. In 2013 

and 2014, not even a single case got 

disposed till now. If the cyber cell 

has skilled people and sophisticated 

equipment, what is the reason for 

such a dismal disposal rate? 

Strong defence 

“It is easier to be on the defending 

side because technology is faster than 

law. Software professionals can create 

software overnight, but a law has to 

be passed in the Parliament. In the 

year 2000, the Information Technology 

Act was passed, but before that 

too, there were cases of cybercrime 

taking place across the country and 

the world. Because there was no law 

then, cyber criminals could not be 

punished,” said Gauhati High Court 

advocate Neelotpal Deka. 

Deka specialises in cyber law 

and feels that the Assam CID cybercrime 

cell is far away from reaching a 

stage when cybercrime cases can be 

resolved in a speedy manner. According 

to Deka, who comes across various 

cybercrime cases, hacking is not 

that easy as people have to possess 

all the technical sophistication and 

know-how to hack and it can happen 

mostly when people share their 

confidential personal and financial 

information with others. Citing an 

example he narrated a story of an 

Airtel employee who had received an 

email for some business association. 

He was asked to open an account in 

an HDFC branch which he did after 

which he was informed that he 

will be involved in a business where 

he would get 60% and the company 

would get 30% share. 

He shared the account information 

with the people sending him 

mails and `38000 was transferred 

to his account and he was asked to 

withdraw the amount and deposit 

the 30% into an account at the ICICI 

Bhangaghar branch. The amount 

transferred to the HDFC account was 

sent from someone else’s account at 

Patelganga branch, Maharashtra. The 

Maharashtra account was hacked. 

There are also cybercrime caseswhich 

involves social websites 

where fake accounts are created to 

defame people. State Health and 

Education Minister Himanta Biswa 

Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma 

had lodged a complaint at the CID 

police station alleging that someone 

had created a fake Facebook account 

in her name, defaming her and her 

husband. The case was acted upon by 

the CID and after contacting Facebook 

officials, an accused was arrested 

from Guwahati. The accused later 

acquired bail and the trial of the case 

is still going on. 

Similarly, there are many other 

cases where the trials are still on and 

the reason is that the CID cybercrime 

cell is not technically knowledgeable 

enough to provide credible evidence 

of the crime in the court. CID might 

claim that they have a skilled team 

but the disposal rate itself explains 

that the investigation is pretty slow. 

According to Advocate Deka, Guwahati 

will need 20 more years to be in 

a position where it can punish cyber 

criminals. He said, “It is always better 

to be on the defending side in Cybercrime 

cases in Guwahati as the police 

are technically not able to prove the 

crime in the court.” 

The entire state has only one 

cybercrime cell, which deals with 

cybercrime cases and are hardly successful 

in punishing the accused or 

for that matter, the culprits. The Assam 

Police is planning to digitise the 

whole system, but before that happens, 

they should brainstorm to find 

a way to combat cybercrime as it is 

becoming a threat to the techno savvy 

people who almost do everything 

over the internet nowadays. People 

also should be responsible enough to 

secure their account information as 

self-security is the best way to protect 

oneself. But with the expanding 

cyberspace and unskilled authorities, 

when will Guwahati be cyber protected? 

shubhojit.roy@g-plus.in

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 5 

GCC TEACHERS’ SPAT THREATENS 

City 

RAHUL CHANDA 

FUTURE OF STUDENTS 

Recently there was a lot of chaos 

about the Gauhati Commerce 

College administration as a 

group of teachers openly protested 

against the Principal of the College, 

Dr. Ghanshyam Nath. Media reached 

the college when the teachers protested 

against the principal and there 

were reports that the principal was 

transferred to some other district and 

thirteen teachers protesting against 

the management were suspended. 

The story 

We visited the college when the 

semester exams were on and on asking 

some students, we came to know 

that there is lesser number of teachers 

in the college as some of them were 

suspended, but the students did not 

have much idea about the incident. 

One of teachers said, “As a teacher 

working in the institute, I don’t have 

the authority to speak to the media. 

Whatever happened is well known to 

the higher authorities so you should 

talk to them.” 

When we met the superintendent 

of the college he said, “We just 

know things from the media reports 

and officially we did not receive any 

letter regarding anyone’s transfer or 

suspension.” When we enquired if 

the principal had come to the college, 

he replied, “Yesterday he did not but 

today he is there.” 

Principal’s view 

Before entering the principal’s 

room, the peon requested us to cut 

our interview short as the principal 

was very depressed about the incident. 

On his transfer, the Principal 

Dr. Ghanshyam Nath said, “The issue 

has now escalated to the government 

and I don’t have anything to 

say or comment on the matter. I have 

just done my job and I don’t have 

anything to be scared of.” He further 

added that even he is not aware that 

he has been transferred as until then, 

he had not received any letter from 

the authorities. On the teachers’ suspensions 

too, he said that he did not 

suspend anyone and has no information 

about it. He further provided 

us with two documents for us to go 

through and analyse why there is 

such a rumour in the media. 

The issue has 

now escalated to 

the government 

and I don’t have 

anything to say 

or comment on 

the matter. I have 

just done my job 

and I don’t have 

anything to be 

scared of” 

- Dr. Ghanshyam Nath 

SPLURGE URGE 

The letters 

Dated 20 th January 2014, the Director, 

Higher Education, Assam had 

written a letter to the Principal, Gauhati 

Commerce College, to implement 

some working hour rules in the college. 

According to the letter, the workload of 

teachers shall not be less than 40 hours 

in a week for 30 working weeks (180 

teaching days) in an academic year. It 

shall be necessary for the teaching staff 

to be available for at least 5 hours daily 

in the college. This shall include at least 

16 hours of direct teaching work for 

lecturer during every working week, 

implying that a teacher should stay not 

less than 40 hours in a week in the col- 

lege, but, his/her stay should not be less 

than 5 hours a day. 

After the principal implemented 

the government’s order, there was some 

displeasure among the college teachers. 

The Gauhati Commerce College 

Unit (GCCTU) under the leadership of 

Dr Amarendra Kalita, issued a letter to 

the principal to spell out the 180 teaching 

days as stated in the DHE’s letter. 

The Unit said that the letter has created 

confusion among the teachers and 

requested the principal to resolve that 

the teachers have been maintaining 5 

hours stay throughout the year. 

Later on 2 nd June 2014, GCCTU 

again raised some issue against the 

principal and protested outside his 

office. Media was called and a chaotic 

situation ensued place in the college. 

Later, thirteen teachers out of 

42 sanctioned teachers in the college 

stopped coming to the institution. It 

is rumoured that the 13 teacher team, 

headed by Dr Amerendra Kalita are 

suspended and showcase notices had 

been served to them for politicising 

the government decision to improve 

the working condition. The principal 

is also said to be transferred to some 

other district but no official letter has 

been issued to him. 

At a time when admissions and 

exams are going on, 13 teachers away 

from college is a deep matter of concern 

and the spat among the teachers 

is affecting the students. Whoever may 

be the cause of the conflict, it is proven 

that even educational institutes are not 

far away from politics. People do not 

like to work more but are always demanding 

a better pay scale. 

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in 

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6 

City 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

Aditya Gogoi 

Dulumoni Rabha’s mother 

and brother work in stone 

quarries to make ends meet. 

Nikumoni Kalita’s father digs sand 

from the river to make up for his 

family’s household expenses. Popy 

Rabha’s mother pulls a handcart and 

sells snack in the weekly local market 

so that her family can have their 

next meal. Apart from the abject poverty 

of the families, there is another 

thread that binds these girls in the 

Assam’s Rani area along the state’s 

border with Meghalaya - they are all 

looking up to football to take them 

out of their drudgery. And for this, 

they have to thank Hem Das, a veteran 

coach from Guwahati, who spends 

his own money to teach football to 

around 40 girls like them. 

Now, even as the world is celebrating 

the FIFA World Cup fever, 

their story has come to life in a 

documentary by film critic-cumfilmmaker 

Utpal Borpujari, being 

made for Rajya Sabha Television. The 

26-minute film was commissioned by 

RSTV channel as a part of a series on 

developmental and inspirational stories 

of modern India. In a sense, it is 

a real-life ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ story, 

in that it is also about the passion 

among a few girls to play football. But 

the similarity ends there. 

The girls of Rani come from poor, 

agrarian families from villages in the 

Rani area, which despite not being 

very far from Guwahati, still remains 

so backward that quite a few villages 

in this tribal-dominated region do 

not have access to power supply even 

today. 

“For these girls, football provides 

an outlet to go beyond their mundane 

lives and as the film reveals, quite a 

QUEENS OF FOOTBALL 

In the World Cup season, the ‘football queens’ 

of Rani tell the story of Assam’s football girls 

The film, apart from focusing on the story 

of the aspirations of a bunch of young, underprivileged 

citizens of modern India, also 

focuses on how individuals can play a role in 

giving shape to the nation’s future, even if it is 

in small ways 

Soccer goals 

Utpal Borpujari with the soccer girls 

few of them also see it as an opportunity 

to secure a better life in the future. 

They walk or cycle several kilometres 

every day to practice football, 

which speaks volumes about their 

dedication. And they practice football 

whenever they find time after attending 

school and doing household 

chores,” says Borpujari. 

The film, says the director, is also 

about the dedication of Das, an ex- 

Assam player who runs the Young 

Star Football Coaching Club in Guwahati. 

“There are many coaches 

who are as dedicated as Das towards 

the game, but what made the story 

interesting for me is the fact that he 

spends a major portion of his earnings 

to travel to Rani around 20 times 

a month, to teach football to these 

girls. He even buys the kits for them,” 

says Borpujari, whose documentaries 

‘Mayong: Myth/Reality’ and ‘Songs 

of the Blue Hills’ have earned international 

acclaim. “The film, apart 

from focusing on the story of the 

aspirations of a bunch of young, underprivileged 

citizens of modern India, 

also focuses on how individuals 

can play a role in giving shape to the 

nation’s future, even if it is in small 

ways,” he says. 

What makes the subject really 

interesting is the fact that Das 

had initially gone to the area in 

search of young boys interested in 

playing football, but he found that 

instead of boys, more girls were 

flocking to him to learn the sport. 

While telling the stories of the 

girls, the film also captures the 

socio-economic life of the area they 

come from, thereby trying to show 

how the fruits of modern development 

have not equitably reached all 

the people. 

The film’s subject is also important 

in the context of North-East India, 

where football is a passion and 

states like Manipur and Mizoram 

and clubs like Shillong Lajong FC 

The making 

have proved themselves to be major 

players in the national scene. 

The research work for the film 

was done by Guwahati-based journalist 

Abdul Gani, while the cinematography 

was done by Biswajeet 

Changmai. The documentary was 

edited by Umesh Kumar and the music 

composed by Anhad Imaan and 

team. The executive producer of the 

film is Jayanta Goswami, the producer 

of ‘Mayong: Myth/Reality’ and 

National Award-winning feature film 

‘Mon Jaai’.

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 7 

shubhojit roy 

THE VULNERABLE 

BRAHMAPUTRA 

With no proper security arrangements in place, the waterways of the city 

on the river Brahmaputra are vulnerable to illegal activities. 

City 

Situated on the banks of the 

mighty Brahmaputra, Guwahati 

sees lakhs of commuters travelling 

through the river route. Guwahati 

comprises of five major ghats on 

both the north side and the south side 

of the bank. There are eight major 

routes to and from the city, namely, 

Guwahati-Kurua, Guwahati-Rajaduar, 

Guwahati-Madhyamkhanda, 

Guwahati-North Guwahati, Guwahati-Kachamari, 

Auniati-Silsaku- 

Guwahati, Pandu-Amingaon and 

Chandrapur-Kirakara. However, not 

all of these routes are active and also 

these routes can be vulnerable points 

for illegal activities. G Plus tries to 

find out how strong or weak is the 

IWT (Inland Water Transport) system 

in the city. 

The status 

Speaking of the Pandu Ghat-Amingaon 

route, the ferry services have 

been inactive since 1996-97. One of 

the prime reasons for the stoppage of 

the service could be due to the lack 

of scope for passenger transportation 

from the ghat to the mainland 

as said by Jayanta Roy Chowdhury, 

Junior Engineer, IWT. “Prior to 1996, 

there was a bus stand just near the 

Pandu Ghat which was then shifted 

to Adabari. Even the railway shuttle 

service which was available till Pandu 

was withdrawn in that period which 

resulted in the absolute decrease of 

commuters,” says Roy Chowdhury. 

Interestingly, a World Bank team 

is in the town to study and modernise 

the river transportation facility. Ac- 

cepting the faults of the IWT, the Director 

at IWT, Victor Carpenter says, 

“There is lack of basic amenities like 

seating facilities, toilets for females 

and many other things. We are just 

running the iron boats, but yes, our 

intentions are right. We have taken 

the initiative to restore and develop 

the services with support from the 

World Bank.” Carpenter also stated 

that there needs to be awareness and 

communication between the IWT 

and the people in order to understand 

people’s demand. He further appealed 

to the public for an incubation 

period so that he can fix the problems. 

“I have a huge wish list but in 

order to fulfill them all, I need time. 

Also, there is shortage of engineers, 

all we have are mechanical engineers 

but we need marine engineers at present. 

There is a shortage of technical 

manpower,” says Carpenter. 

We have 

disposed of 

55 cases of 

drowning and 

suicide in the 

last term but 

our major 

concern is 

that not all 

of such cases 

are suicide. 

Some of them 

are murder 

cases too 

but however, 

they are not 

investigated 

properly” 

Safety measures 

and precautions 

Out of approximately 225 vessels 

in entire Assam, 66 vessels have been 

equipped with GPS tracking systems. 

Though our source at IWT says that 

it currently possess sufficient number 

of lifebuoys and lifejackets, the statement 

seems to be quite cynical as the 

sources at River Police Outpost Office, 

says, “We might be short of sufficient 

number of swimmers in case 

of a mishap.” 

Also, the ferries which have 

been sailing on the National Waterway-2 

do not have any slipway in and 

around the city to find any invisible 

technical faults in a ship that might 

have occurred over time. However, a 

slipway construction project has been 

undertaken by Inland Waterways 

Authority of India (IWAI). 

Security 

compromised? 

In a report obtained from IWT, it 

was revealed that in the year 2010-11 

and 2011-12, a total no. of 19,45,822 

commuters and 19,65,505 commuters 

respectively travelled through 

the government ferries alone. Shockingly, 

none of the commuters out of 

lakhs were checked for security purpose 

as the Director at IWT, Victor 

Carpenter says, “We let people get on 

and off board the vessel on good faith 

as we didn’t have any check point.” 

This is undoubtedly a tremendous 

security breach creating huge vulnerability 

for illegal activities like arms 

smuggling, drugs smuggling and 

others in and out of the city. 

In order to find out more answers 

on the possibilities of a major security 

breach in the city, we reached 

the River Police outpost of Guwahati. 

“The river route has become a safe haven 

for the culprits as the river police 

maintain a low profile in comparison 

to the surface police,” says Md. Abul 

Hussain, OC, River Police Outpost. 

It was further discovered that the 

river police are not an armed force 

and needs to seek help from the sur- 

face police in times of need. On asking 

about if any illegal activities are 

prevalent on the Brahmaputra front, 

it was reported that the Guwahati region 

from Sualkuchi to Chandrapur 

does not suffer from such major activities, 

however drowning and suicide 

cases are high. 

Abul Hussain says, “We have disposed 

of 55 cases of drowning and 

suicide in the last term but our major 

concern is that not all of such cases 

are suicide. Some of them are murder 

cases too but however, they are not 

investigated properly. We are not provided 

with proper logistical support; 

once a dead body is recovered, it is the 

duty of the forensic to do full autopsy 

as directed by the Supreme Court. 

Contrarily, we only get reports such 

as ‘the face is unrecognisable due to 

decomposition’ or something like 

that. The nature of injury, if any, is 

hardly studied.” 

It is extremely shocking that the 

authorities so far have been so ignorant 

towards the possibilities of 

crimes happening through the river 

route of Brahmaputra. However, the 

IWT promises of future developments 

such as CCTV surveillance 

and proper check posts with the help 

from World Bank. The witlessness of 

the authorities and the government 

during the darker days of the 2008 

Assam blasts and the days that followed 

after is extremely condemnable 

and shows that the security of the city 

and its people have been heavily jeopardised 

in the past.

8 

The Week That Was 

City News 

GMDA notice to Silsako Lake encroachers 

411 bighas of 

land freed from 

encroachment 

The Kamrup Metro district 

administration has removed 

encroachment from 

over 411 bighas of public land in 

Sonapur and Chandrapur areas on 

the outskirts of the city. In an official 

communication, the district authorities 

said the anti-encroachment 

drive followed two judgments of the 

Gauhati High Court and involved 

public land occupied by 38 brick 

kilns. Notices were sent to the brick 

kilns and in recent days, 16 such 

encroachments in Sonapur revenue 

circle and 18 in Chandrapur revenue 

circle have been removed and over 

411 bighas of public land freed from 

encroachment. Now action has been 

initiated against the remaining brick 

kilns occupying over 148 bighas of 

public land, the land freed from encroachment 

will be preserved and 

used for public purpose, the district 

administration added. 

A 

notice has been issued by 

the Guwahati Metropolitan 

Development Authority 

(GMDA) for removing illegal 

encroachers from the Silsako Lake 

area. The GMDA said encroachment 

of Silsako beel in Guwahati 

is a criminal offence under Guwahati 

Water Bodies Preservation 

and Conservation Act 2008. The 

encroachers, who are found occupying 

such government-notified 

land, are liable to eviction by the 

Circle Officer, Dispur Revenue 

Circle. Any person encroaching 

Silsako beel is asked to vacate the 

Controversy over the cremation 

of Mahanta 

Controversy continues to haunt 

noted folk music legend Khagen 

Mahanta’s cremation that 

took place on June 13 close to the 

premises of the Srimanta Shankardev 

Kalakshetra in the city. Sattradhikar 

Bhadra Krishna Goswami from the 

Jokai Sattra, stated that Mahanta’s 

cremation near the Kalakshetra 

premises was against the laws and 

conditions under which the institution 

had been established. Goswami 

said that the Kalakshetra was built 

under the aegis of the Assam Accord 

which was achieved after the sacrifice 

of 855 martyrs who struggled for the 

pride of the Assamese people. He further 

added that the Kalakshetra is a 

place where art and culture should 

be practiced and followed, and the 

place should not be turned into a cremation 

ground for every prominent 

artiste who dies in the future. The 

decision to hold cremation of Khagen 

Mahanta at the Kalakshetra premises 

was taken by the district administration. 

The decision saw a wave of 

protests from various organizations 

and outfits including the Kalakshetra 

authorities who said that it is a spiritually 

important place and can’t be 

used by others. After the protests, 

the district administration built a 

separate path leading to the cremation 

site. The agitating groups stated 

that the government should provide a 

specific location for the cremation of 

great personalities from the state and 

leave the Srimanta Shankardev Kalakshetra 

from such activities. 

land and remove any unauthorized 

structure immediately. Otherwise, 

such encroachment and unauthorised 

structure shall be evicted by 

force as per the provisions of Assam 

Land Revenue Regulation Act 

and Guwahati Water-bodies Preservation 

and Conservation Act. 

Coffee table book on Guwahati released 

Alluring Guwahati, a glossy coffee-table 

book, capturing the 

fascinating aspects of the city 

of Guwahati, was released on June 18. 

The book documents the various landmarks 

in the city, lists eateries, wildlife 

getaways, must-have info for tourists, 

titbits, and more. Although the book 

is not a comprehensive publication on 

Guwahati, it can be used as a ready reference 

guide by both first timers to the 

city as well as residents. For instance, in 

the History and Geography section, the 

book features important monuments, 

complete with their history, albeit in 

brief. If Guwahati has its own wildlife 

and is a haven of birds, it also has its 

share of famous religious landmarks, 

representing all religions. The book features 

most of them. VS Bhaskar, Principal 

Secretary, Tourism, Government 

of Assam, while releasing the book, 

said it succeeded in filling the void of 

such a publication aimed at tourists and 

others who would like to know almost 

everything about the city. An initiative 

of the Kamrup (Metro) district administration, 

Alluring Guwahati has been 

brought out by Wordweaves India, a 

Guwahati-based publisher with support 

from State Bank of India, Northeast 

circle. 

FIR registered 

against Chief 

Justice 

An FIR has been registered 

against the Chief Justice of 

Gauhati High Court on June 

12 by a Mizoram based NGO called 

Zofa Welfare Organization (ZWO) 

for wilful neglect of duties. The FIR 

had been registered at Aizawl police 

station against Gauhati High Court 

Chief Jusctice for his wilful neglect 

of duties to open up a Special Court 

that will deal with cases for the 

protection of marginalized section 

or educationally and economically 

backward classes as envisaged by the 

Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled 

Tribes (Prevention of Attrocities) 

Act, 1989. According to section 14 of 

the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled 

Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) 

Act, 1989, Special Court should 

be constituted with concurrence of 

the Chief Justice of High Court to 

deal with cases related with minority 

section. However, the Chief Justice 

of Gauhati High Court, till date 

has not yet approve to set up Special 

Court which rightly means the manifestation 

of contempt and violation 

of the right of the Mizos, said ZWO 

leaders adding that the Chief Justice 

can be punished on ground of wilful 

negligence of duties under section-4 

of the act. 

With a view to stop ragging 

at colleges and senior 

secondary schools in the 

city, the Kamrup (Metro) district administration 

has decided to make it 

mandatory for every educational institution 

of Guwahati to have an antiragging 

helpline number from the 

2014-15 academic sessions. The official 

order asking all educational institutions 

to start helpline numbers to 

combat ragging went out on June 23. 

“We felt that an anti-ragging helpline 

should be put in place so that victims 

can instantly call the concerned college 

authority and the culprits can be 

nabbed”, said additional deputy commissioner 

of Kamrup (metro) district 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

Govt introduces helpline to 

combat ragging 

Mukta Saikia. Though most of the 

colleges in the city have anti-ragging 

cells and squads to stop the menace, 

the initiative to introduce a helpline 

will be beneficial to newcomers, feel 

some of the students. Authorities of 

many city colleges also said the introduction 

of a helpline was a positive 

step. “Many parents and students 

feel worried about ragging. The presence 

of a helpline will definitely give 

them courage in facing their seniors,” 

said Nirada Devi, Principal of Cotton 

College. Principal of Handique 

Girls’ College Indira Bardoloi said a 

helpline would help the college authorities 

to provide instant help to 

the victims of ragging. 

Prime Bakes takes free bakery 

classes 

Leading confectionery chain 

of Guwahati, Prime Bakes 

conducted a free baking 

demonstration for young girls and 

housewives in the city. Conducted 

at its Beltola premise, the event 

elicited an enthusiastic response 

of more than 70 participants who 

were taught the nitty and gritty of 

baking. Convened by its talented 

master chef Mr. Sukumar Maity, 

the goal of the bakery class was 

to acquaint participants with the 

fundamentals of baking before 

proceeding on to teach some great 

recipes. The participants were 

warmed up with the tools, skills 

and techniques involved in the 

baking process followed by some 

delectable brownie recipes and 

cake icing techniques. Speaking at 

the sidelines of the event Mrs. Baruah, 

a homemaker said “The chef 

combined his practical experience 

with techniques and presented 

them in an easy to understand 

format. The hands-on class was a 

great learning experience and we 

are thankful to Prime Bakes for 

coming up with this novel concept”. 

Expressing satisfaction Mr. 

Nirupam Muklania, CEO, Prime 

Bakes said “Through this event 

we have attempted to go beyond 

just recipes and teach techniques 

which an average home maker can 

master and use confidently to develop 

their own bakery dishes”.

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 9 

Surya Gold Cement raises 

awareness against child labour 

Surya Gold Cement, the leading 

cement brand of North East region 

in collaboration with Child 

Friendly Guwahati, a non- governmental 

organization spearheaded 

“Stand Strong against Child Labor”, 

a mass awareness drive was conducted 

on the eve of World Day against 

Child labour. The objective of the 

Campaign was to sensitize the city 

audience on the perils of Child labor 

and urge them to report the same. 

Surya representatives along with the 

kids from Child Friendly Guwahati 

took out a rally shouting slogans and 

wearing placards to draw attention 

towards the cause. They also distributed 

campaign leaflets to passerby’s 

to sensitize them further on the 

plight of child labours and its impact 

on our Society. The leaflets highlighted 

the Childline number aimed 

at urging city dwellers to report cases 

of child labor and hence do their bit 

in building a stronger nation. Before 

flagging off the rally, representatives 

from the NGO spoke at length on 

how child labour hinders children’s 

education, development and future 

livelihood making it detrimental to 

the future of the country. Mr. Sunil 

Agarwal, President, Surya Gold Cement 

said “This is a persisting social 

problem in our society and is a violation 

of child’s basic human rights. 

This exercise is linked to our long 

term dream of building a child labour 

free Assam”. 

Tobacco purchasing age 

limit to be increased 

In order to limit the tobacco addiction 

amongst youngsters of 

Assam, cancer experts and antitobacco 

government bodies has made 

up their mind to raise the minimum 

age of purchasing tobacco to 25 years. 

The proposal to raise the age limit 

has been forwarded by the Union 

health ministry. As per the Global 

Adult Tobacco Survey (2010) that is 

carried out every four years, 39 per 

cent of adolescents in Assam above 

the age of 15 are regular tobacco users, 

a staggering figure as compared 

to the national average of 34.6 per 

cent. According to the 2000-01 data 

as per Global Youth Tobacco Survey, 

the rate was 36.1 per cent. The comparison 

shows an increasing trend in 

tobacco consumption among youngsters. 

“If the Union Health Ministry 

is truly examining a proposal to raise 

the age then it is quite appreciative. 

The number of young people, especially 

minors, resorting to tobacco 

consumption is worrisome. If they 

are prevented early, then they will 

refrain in the future as well,” said 

Ashok Kumar Das, associate professor 

of head and neck oncology, Dr B 

Borooah Cancer Institute. Though 

Assam has put a ban on smokeless 

tobacco of all forms, smuggling of 

tobacco from neighbouring states 

where such laws doesn’t exist is posing 

a big challenge to enforcement 

bodies. Last year’s statistics showed 

3.2 lakh cigarette packs and 6.5 sachets 

of guthkas were being sold in 

the state. 

Bishnu Rabha Divas celebrated 

The death anniversary of Kalaguru 

Bishnu Rabha was observed 

at Syu Ka Fa Bhawan 

in Jayanagar area of Guwahati on 

20th of June. Various competitions 

on Bishnu Rabha Sangeet were organized 

and winners were felicitated 

with prize amount of `5000 and `3000 

for 1st and 2nd position respectively. 

Bipul Chetia Phukan, Montu Gohain, 

Biman Baruah and Khagen Gogoi 

were invited among many other musicians 

to the cultural night which 

was organized by NHPC (National 

Hydroelectric Power Corporation), 

Lower Subansri Hydel Project. 

The Directorate of Revenue 

Intelligence (DRI) confiscated 

a truckload of red 

sandalwood from the city’s Beltola 

Chariali area on June 18. The consignment, 

worth `3 crore, weighed 

over 7000kg. Two persons were arrested 

with the consignment. Both 

of them are reportedly from West 

Bengal and were driving the truck 

to Mizoram via Guwahati.” The 

consignment was concealed under 

Guwahati to host first NE 

Couture Fashion Weekend 

food items and was on its way to 

Myanmar from West Bengal. There 

is huge demand for sandalwood, 

also known as red gold, in Myanmar 

due to its medicinal properties. 

In many cases, we have also found 

that such consignments head towards 

China through neighbouring 

countries,” said a DRI official. 

“Easily available coolant, it is a rare 

wood and sold at exorbitant rates 

in the international market,” an 

The city is all set to welcome 

the first-ever Couture Fashion 

Weekend of the north 

eastern region. Organized by Mega 

Entertainment with TRESemmé, 

a brand of Hindustan Unilever 

Limited, as the title sponsor, the 

TRESemmé Couture Fashion 

Weekend 2014 will enthrall the audience 

as 30 top-notch models will 

sashay the ramp adorning collections 

designed by 9 designers from 

across the country and north east 

region. The two day fashion weekend, 

scheduled to happen on 21st 

and 22nd June, 2014 at Pragjyoti 

Cultural Complex, Machkhowa, 

is also supported by Crafts of 

North East- a society promoting 

the handicrafts and handloom of 

northeast, Vodafone and Ponds 

White Beauty, a Hindustan Unilever 

Limited. Such cultural shows 

would be a “CURTAIN RAISER” 

to the whole world and this will 

trigger the curiosity of people 

around the world to explore more 

about the northeastern region, this 

will bring them to this region and 

will pave the path for fashion tourism 

in the region. The show is dedicated 

to this industry, showcasing 

those designers who have achieved 

nationally and to celebrate the 

outstanding talent emerging out 

of this region. “We are bringing 

brilliant designers from across India, 

so that they can understand 

the culture, and be aware of the 

handicrafts and handlooms of this 

region and take it further to the 

national and international level”, 

said Abhijit Singha, Founder Proprietor- 

Mega Entertainment. 

The Week That Was 

City News 

7000kg of red sandalwood seized 

Pubs seek deadline extension 

Pub and bar owners in the city 

have pleaded the district administration 

to extend the deadlines 

from the current deadline 10 

pm. Proprietors agree that the World 

Cup presents a golden opportunity for 

them to promote the business and give 

their customers a good time. While 

some matches are telecast at 9:30 pm 

(IST), most are shown at 12:30 am and 

3:30 am, leaving fans with no option 

but to catch all the action at home. 

“Of course it’s a great opportunity. 

The World Cup is the biggest sporting 

event and happens only once in four 

years. However, we cannot act alone. 

The district administration has to take 

the initiative. People here cannot enjoy 

the 9:30 pm match because pubs close 

after 30 minutes,” said Arju, co-owner 

of a popular city pub. “The deadline 

extension could have been planned 

in a phased manner. The government 

could have provided us with more 

security and we would have shared 

profits. It would have boosted tourism 

as well,” said Ravi (name changed) 

another owner. However, the district 

administration’s 10pm deadline has 

been a major bone of contention. “We 

will change our decor once the major 

matches begin even though the early 

deadline is a dampener. We cannot 

go against the rules,” said Juhi Singh 

Saboo, entrepreneur and owner of a 

popular joint. 

official added. The precious wood 

costs about `2,500-3,000 per kilogram. 

Favourite destinations for 

red sandalwood are the US, China 

and Japan, but there is an emerging 

market in Middle East countries as 

well. Last year, about 55 Chinese 

nationals were detained while carrying 

the pricey wood in various 

forms in their hand baggage at the 

Delhi airport. 

ASACS 

observes 

World Blood 

Donor Day 

Assam State AIDS Control 

Society (ASACS) 

and Assam State Blood 

Transfusion Council (ASBTC) 

organized World Blood Donor 

Day on June 14 at the conference 

hall of State Institute of 

Health & Family Welfare (SI- 

HFW), Khanapara. A total of 

73 organizations were felicitated 

in the programme. Gyan Chand 

Agarwala of Bongaigaon was 

especially felicitated for donating 

78 units of blood. Speaking 

at the state level function, SK 

Roy, Project Director, ASACS, 

while stressing on this year 

theme – ‘Safe blood for saving 

mothers’ said that in order 

to ensure that one gets blood 

whenever required, there must 

be sufficient quantity of blood 

in blood banks. He further said 

that for maintenance of blood 

banks, all blood banks would be 

linked with internet connectivity. 

“Through such linkage, we 

will know the status of the blood 

banks and the professional 

blood donors would be kept under 

check. There will also be no 

wastage of blood,” said Sanjeeva 

Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary 

to the Government of Assam, 

Department of Health & Family 

Welfare in his speech said that 

since the voluntary blood donation 

in the state is not up to the 

mark, district specific strategy 

must be prepared.

10 

Ward Watch 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

`10 LAKH FOR 

DRAINAGE AT KATABARI 

Shubhojit Roy 

WARD 

NO 

07 

Sub Division 7A/ 7B/ 7C 

No. of Voters 30,682 (approx.) 

Concentrated Region Katabari 

Major Issue Roads, Voltage fluctuation 

The Katabari area of Guwahati, 

which is located near the ISBT 

at Betkuchi suffers from horrible 

road conditions. Soon after this 

correspondent reached the place, the 

area received 15 minutes of heavy 

showers, which completely changed 

the scenario of the locality instantly. 

After half an hour, the Katabari road 

was completely waterlogged with 

half a feet of water and the drains 

were overflowing with filth. The view 

was enough to tell the entire story; 

however, it was necessary to find out 

the pertaining situation from the locals. 

The street condition 

Bireshwar Bora, a resident of 

Katabari who has been living in the 

locality since his birth told G Plus 

about how the authorities are ignorant 

about the area. “The road has 

been in such condition for very long. 

Some complaints have been made in 

the past, but nobody acted on them. 

You must have noticed how the road 

was a while back and how it became 

completely water logged,” said Bora 

pointing towards the deluge. He further 

mentioned how people blocked 

the drains by disposing garbage into 

it. “People are also to be blamed for 

the condition of the locality! If the 

drains get blocked by garbage, it is 

the people who are to blame and the 

residents need to be more educated 

and aware,” stated Bora. 

Voltage Fluctuation 

It was found out that the Katabari 

area suffers from major voltage 

fluctuation as the electricity 

supply in the locality is limited. “The 

The road 

has been in such 

condition for 

very long. Some 

complaints have 

been made in the 

past, but nobody 

acted on them” 

area suffers regular load shedding, 

at least twice or thrice a day besides 

the problem of voltage fluctuation. 

There will hardly be a time of the day 

when we experience full voltage of 

electricity,” says Anwar Islam, a local 

businessman at Katabari. Anwar 

also stated that the authorities were 

appealed to on many occasion to 

fix the problem, but the cry has not 

borne any fruit. 

Road and Garbage 

After getting completely 

drenched in the afternoon shower, 

this correspondent reached the shop 

of Altaf Hussain seeking shelter. 

Hussain revealed that although the 

road condition has been the same 

over the years, water logging has 

become a major problem now. On 

asking about the reason for the water 

logging, Altaf said, “Most of the 

drains that were built years back 

are dead now. They have either got 

land filled or are completely blocked 

which results in water logging.” Altaf 

further stated that the area doesn’t 

have a single GMC waste bin and the 

garbage van have never come into 

their locality. “Even though there is 

no garbage bin in the area, I prefer 

burning my waste materials rather 

than dumping it in the drain or on 

the road,” he said. 

Councilor’s Remarks 

While talking to the councilor of 

Ward No- 7, Bhupen Thakuria, it was 

found out that the Katabari area suffers 

from voltage fluctuation due to overload 

of the transformer. “The area has 

too many connections from a single 

transformer. However, a new transformer 

will be installed in the locality 

within a week or two,” said Thakuria. 

On the topic of water logging and garbage 

problem, Bhupen says, “`10 lakh 

project for construction of drains has 

been taken up in the Katabari main 

road. The Ramky infrastructure will 

only be associated with GMC till 30 th of 

June, after which the NGO’s in the city 

will take the responsibility of garbage 

disposition. One NGO for each ward 

will be given the responsibility of garbage 

collection and disposition by the 

GMC,” stated Thakuria. 

Even though the Councilor has expressed 

about taking initiatives for the 

welfare of the people, only time will tell 

if the locals of Katabari will get to heave 

a sigh of relief from voltage fluctuations 

and water logging. Moreover, it will be 

interesting to see how the NGO’s of the 

city tackle the garbage problem when a 

big company like Ramky has already 

failed. 


G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 11 

THE AMBUBACHI BUSINESS 

SHAMBHAVI 

Business 

BHUTAN HYDEL PROJECT 

RAISES CONCERNS 

While the occupancy in several 

hotels of Guwahati 

has reached 100 percent, 

lakhs of Sadhus have reached the 

power centre of the Kamakhya temple 

for the four-day Ambubachi mela. 

The fair is believed to be biggest 

opportunity for the aspirants in tantra 

vidya to learn the art. This festival 

has, over the years evolved, as a tourism 

hot-spot. 

While the devotees from different 

places of the country are rushing 

money orders to their respective 

priests to offer prayers on their behalf, 

sponsors are making a beeline to 

sponsor different kinds of foodstuff 

for the visiting devotees. This year, 

nearly 6 lakh devotees are likely to 

visit the temple. 

According to an estimate, more 

than `10 lakh is spent by devotees for 

the offering of prayers via the priests. 

The priests in their household offer 

prayers for their respective clients 

(Jajman). 

The temple has more than 150 

priests and each priest has a client 

base of nearly 10 persons. The business 

community here spends several 

lakh in making arrangements for the 

foodstuff for the devotees. 

The sale of fruits in this season 

goes up as pilgrims eat fruits dur- 

“The sales see 

a jump of 20 

percent during 

this time. 

Demands come 

from different 

corners of 

the city” 

ing the four-day long festival. Abul 

Hussain, a fruit seller in Wholesale 

market of Fancy said, “The sales see a 

jump of 20 percent during this time. 

Demands come from different corners 

of the city.” 

Among the visitors, there were 

devotees from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, 

Cooch Behar, Kolkata, Maharastra, 

Orissa and several other 

places of the country. Chief Minister 

Tarun Gogoi has announced free 

transport facility for pilgrims. 

The 600 Megawatt Kholongchu 

Hydropower Project 

in Bhutan has raised concerns 

in Assam. The project was 

unveiled by Prime Minister, Narendra 

Modi recently. 

Assam chief minister Tarun 

Gogoi said, “Apprehensions 

have been expressed regarding 

the dam project and we are also 

concerned about what its downstream 

impact in Assam will be. 

We want that everyone should 

benefit but not at the cost of 

Assam. An expert committee 

should be formed to examine all 

aspects relating to the project and 

take every measure for mitigating 

floods and other likely downstream 

impact here.” 

Regional political party 

Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has 

stated that BJP has gone back on 

its promise of not allowing mega 

dams in Northeast India. 

The All Assam Students 

Union (Aasu) has sought white 

paper on the project. AASU stated 

it has to raise the demand for a 

white Paper on the hydel project 

in Himalayan kingdom as tremendous 

devastation was caused 

by its Kurichu Hydel Project in 

2004 and 2007 in five districts including 

Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta, 

Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon. 

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World Bank Group 

funds social 

enterprises 

Twelve innovative social 

enterprises were awarded 

grants totaling $1.4 million 

by the India Development 

Marketplace (DM) funded by 

the World Bank Group (WBG). 

Nine organisations received 

US$150,000 each for project 

implementation over 24 months 

and an additional three organisations 

were selected to receive 

US$25,000 each in capacity 

building funding to provide innovative 

service delivery solutions 

in the Northeastern 

states of Assam, Mizoram, and 

Meghalaya.

12 

In Conversation 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

HOLDING ON TO ASSAMESE CINEMA 

chandan sharma 

SHANKAR LALL GOENKA 

Goenka has been around in the Assamese cinema circles for decades now. 

Influencing, encouraging and promoting the industry, in spite of all its troubles 

and misgivings, he looks forward to a new era of movie making in the region. 

Shankar Lall Goenka, receiving the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Assamese Language ‘Ajeyo’ from President of India, Pranab Mukherjee at Bigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, in May 

At a time when the number 

of private producers for serious 

Asamese films is tremendously 

lacking, Shankar Lall 

Goenka, One of the senior-most film 

exhibitor-distributors of the entire 

North-Eastern Region, has come up 

to produce a film by none other than 

Jahnu Barua. Thus became the film 

‘Ajeyo,’ which recently won the National 

Award for Best Feature Film 

in Assamese Language. In fact, it was 

Goenka who had assembled two significant 

elements for an aestheticallyrich 

cinematic product: Arun Sarma’s 

much-acclaimed, Sahitya Akademi 

Award-winning novel ‘Ashirbador 

Rong’ and director Jahnu Barua. 

Shankar Lall Goenka, was born 

in Shillong and completed his graduation 

in arts from the St Edmunds 

College. His father, late Jeewan Ram 

Goenka, had established Kelvin Cinema 

in 1926, the first-ever cinema 

hall in the entire North-East. He had 

also established another cinema in 

Guwahati by the same name in 1932. 

Shankar Lall Goenka joined the film 

business in 1960 and with utmost 

sincerity and dedication, he rose to 

the fame as one of the leading person 

in this trade sector. He took the 

initiative in implementing the most 

significant project of his family — to 

establish first 70mm cinema of the 

Northeast - Anjali Cinema in 1966. 

In 1977, Goenka formed his firm 

‘Goenka Enterprise’ and successfully 

released a number of Assamese films, 

such as, ‘Joymoti’, ‘Aai Kot Naai’, 

‘Jibon Bator Logori’, ‘Basundhara’, 

‘Azan Fakir Saheb’, ‘Ramdhenu’, 

‘Rowd’, ‘Rishang’, ‘Borolar Ghor’, etc. 

Goenka formed ‘Jeewan Ram 

Mungi Devi Goenka Memorial Public 

Charitable Trust’ in memory of his 

late parents in 2000. This Trust has 

been presenting ‘Lifetime Achievement 

Award for Cultural Excellence’ 

to the unsung heroes in the cultural 

field of the North-Eastern Region 

from 2007. Three other significant 

activities of the Trust were the publication 

of the books ‘Jyotiprasad 

Agarwalla’ (a biography of the producer-director 

of the first Assamese 

film ‘Joymoti’ released in 1935) and 

‘Heritage Shillong’ (an illustrated 

description of the historic buildings 

and monuments of Shillong). It also 

produced an album titled ‘A Tribute 

to Dr Bhupen Hazarika’ containing 

14 immortal haunting melodies of Dr 

Hazarika. The album has been preserved 

in a couple of sound archives 

in the USA and Europe. Both the 

He took 

the initiative in 

implementing 

the most 

significant 

project of his 

family — to 

establish first 

70mm cinema 

of the Northeast 

- Anjali Cinema 

in 1966” 

books were written by noted historian 

and writer Prof (Late) Dipankar 

Banerjee. 

Another significant contribution 

by him was the financial support for 

the publication of the biography of 

Asam Sahitya Sabha’s past presidents 

both in Assamese and English language. 

Goenka was awarded the prestigious 

Dadasaheb Phalke Akademi 

Award for his contribution towards 

the growth and development of cinema 

business. 

Following are the 

excerpts 

of an interview: 

Your opinion on the present cinema 

distribution scenario in Assam? 

Like many other things related to 

cinema, the distribution scenario all 

over the country has undergone drastic 

changes especially since the last 

decade. In Assam too there has been 

no exception. A film’s life, after its release, 

has become shorter day by day. 

Uncertainty over the box office success 

of any film is increasing—even 

in case of a huge film with a superstar 

cast. Over and above, we are facing 

more and more risk factors. 

What should be done to improve the 

situation if there is any lacuna? 

There are a number of lacunas 

and the measures to improve the situation 

are many. It is simply not possible 

to say in brief in this regard. 

Give your opinion on the clash 

between the time of release of a 

regional and a Bollywood movie. How 

does it affect distribution? 

I have never faced such a clash 

and I firmly believe that such clashes 

can be easily avoided if the release 

plan of a regional movie is properly 

made well ahead of time. Both Bollywood 

and regional movies, if they 

flop at the box office, affects distribution. 

How did you venture into the 

field of movie production? 

I had produced the Assamese 

film ‘Manasi’ jointly back in 1981. It 

was directed by Balai Sen and Ramen 

Barua was the music director. With 

stars like, Biju Phukan and Bidya Rao, 

the film did well. Its Odiya version 

was ‘Agnipariksha’. After that I concentrated 

on film distribution. But in 

case of ‘Ajeyo’, it was a little different. 

‘Ajeyo’ came up on my initiative. 

In fact, having gone through the novel 

‘Ashirbador Rong’ by Arun Sarma, 

I immediately decided to produce a 

film on it. I then proposed Jahnu Barua 

to make a film on this novel and 

after Barua accepted the proposal, 

Arun Sarma was too happy to give his 

nod. It took almost a year to complete 

the film and its first success came 

with the winning of the Best Film 

Award in the Prag Cine Awards this 

year. It was followed by the National 

Award, the only Assamese film this 

year to win the laurel in the feature 

film category.

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 13 

Career 

TAKE A SMART DECISION 

Ranjan K Baruah 

It is admissions time and many 

students might be in a confused 

state related to their decisions. 

Some of the students will make it to 

medical, engineering, law, fashion 

institutes, polytechnic, hotel management 

or other institutes through 

various entrance tests. Most of the 

reputed or credible colleges conduct 

written tests or interviews to filter 

the students while others do it on the 

basis of marks that a student attains 

in the senior secondary level. But, I 

would like to appeal to the students 

and their guardians to be aware of 

people who are trying to make arrangements 

for admissions outside 

the state. 

Many institutes from places like 

Bangalore, Delhi , Noida, Chennai, 

Pune or others places engage people 

as admission agents or consultants 

who have good connections here in 

the North East. Many a times, they 

charge some advance money or consultancy 

fee for providing admissions 

in different institutes in other parts of 

the country. This might be dangerous 

as all institutes may not be credible, 

so I would like to request parents 

or other guardians to take care before 

selecting any institutes for admissions. 

Some of the things that one should 

take care while selecting institutes: 

• Research the institute’s website 

properly 

• Look at the affiliation properly 

• Check the campus placement and 

records of previous placements. 

• Try to connect to alumni of the 

institutes 

• Take proper counseling from a 

career counselor. A career counsellor 

and a admission agent/representative 

is different. 

We have to be cautious as many 

institutes have sprung up these days 

but they hardly have any kind of credibility. 

Courses like engineering, biotechnology, 

business administration/ 

management or other emerging careers 

are always attractive for young 

people. As there are less institutes in 

the state, many prefer to go outside. 

There might be some institutes without 

proper affiliation from AICTE 

or UGC and in this case, we must be 

careful 

Many a times, 

they charge some 

advance money or 

consultancy fee for 

providing admissions 

in different institutes 

in other parts of the 

country. 

Students call up and often ask 

me about particular cities and when I 

ask them why only a particular city, I 

fail to get a reply. It might be because 

some of their seniors are studying 

there and in many cases, students 

themselves become agents for admission. 

So my request is to be very cautious. 

At the time of admissions, some 

institutes ask for the original cer- 

tificates and then they retain them so 

that students do not leave the campus. 

This is a way to make money. All 

students and guardians or parents 

are requested to read the policies of 

the institutes carefully before taking 

admissions. Credible institutes are 

trustworthy but for many, it has also 

become a business. Since it is about a 

student’s future, we need to think and 

plan well before taking admissions.

14 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

Politicking 

THE CALIFORNIA GOLD 

RUSH AND THE BJP 

The post 16th May scenario in the BJP seems to be turning into a ‘California Gold Rush’ every day 

with over 5000 people, on an average, across the country showing interest in joining the party. In 

Assam too, the same situation seems to be prevailing. 

SMS Bordoloi 

It was on January 24th, 1848 that 

‘The California Gold Rush’ began, 

when gold was found by James W. 

Marshall at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, 

California and it continued from 

1848 to 1855. The first to hear confirmed 

information about gold in 

California were the residents of Oregon, 

the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), 

western Mexico, and Central America. 

The news of gold brought in some 

300,000 people – half of them arrived 

by sea route and the others came over 

land, to California from the rest of 

the United States and abroad. 

Similarly, after the BJP led NDA’s 

unprecedented victory on 16th May, 

2014 there has been a rush of people 

to join the party in Assam. A critical 

observation revealed that there are 

different types of people making a 

beeline to join the BJP. The first kind 

of people falls in the opportunist category, 

the second belonging to the 

fence sitters and the third category 

strongly believe that good people 

should now join politics to make a 

difference making them fall into the 

category of potential nation builders. 

The first two categories of people 

would try to strike gold overnight, 

but as the story of the California 

Gold Rush goes, they will get frustrated 

soon and eventually the real 

dedicated and original people of the 

BJP will strike gold. The opportunist 

and fence-sitters would try to sneak 

in to the inner circle which has to be 

thwarted astutely. 

The younger generation has been 

hugely influenced by the Modi persona 

which is undoubtedly a positive 

sign. Young professionals who want 

to join the party and give back to the 

nation, are the real nation builders 

in the wings who would, given an 

opportunity, eventually make outrageous 

contributions. 

It is a bitter truth that none of 

the BJP MPs won the recent general 

elections on their merit alone. It was 

simply the Modi wave created with a 

highly strategic roadmap by burning 

lots of midnight oil. But in the next 

Assembly Elections, Modi will be a 

busy PM and it would not be his priority 

to plunge into a similar kind of 

jet-set and hurricane type of meetings 

and road shows to ensure victory 

for the BJP in Assam. 

In order to manage the desirable 

and undesirable rush of people and to 

emerge as the ruling party in the next 

state Assembly elections BJP would 

need a hard task master at the top 

job in the state. The state BJP must 

now swell its party cadres as we as 

well strengthen its grassroots organisational 

set up. Every second, in the 

next two years, would be highly valuable 

moments for the BJP leadership 

in the state not only to sustain the 

wave in favour of BJP but to amplify 

it further as well. 

In Assam the BJP would need a 

leader with character, commitment, 

capability and impeccable communication 

skills (4 Cs) who, besides 

strengthening the party, would also 

inspire people of Assam to dream 

more, learn more, do more and become 

more. Technology savvy leaders 

would befittingly fit into Modi’s 

scheme of things as Modi has used 

technology excessively during the 

last general elections and will be used 

now to accelerate the pace of development 

as well as eradicate some major 

ailments in the system. Going by 3S 

(Skill, Scale, Speed) it is obvious that 

use of technology would add tremendous 

speed to our day-to-day living, 

including politics. 

Now, since the process of appointing 

the next president for the 

party in Assam has already gained 

momentum and quite a few names 

have already been doing the rounds. 

The people at the helm of affairs in 

the state BJP must realise the fact 

that Modi has set a new benchmark 

so far as political leadership is concerned 

and the people of Assam are 

aware of it. So the people would look 

up for a strong leader who would 

conform to the Modi traits (4Cs) and 

who would also be capable to spearhead 

a new model of development 

politics in the state. Capability must 

include intellectual, managerial and 

leadership capability. Because Modi 

has smashed caste, creed and religion 

driven politics and people in general 

want only development. 

One’s family background cannot 

be criteria to qualify for higher 

responsibility; we have seen how Rahul 

Gandhi led the Congress to catastrophe 

in the recent elections. BJP’s 

central leaders must evaluate the 

candidates’ professional track record 

to judge their capability. They should 

find out whether those candidates 

eyeing the state president’s chair had 

demonstrated extraordinary performance 

in their erstwhile professions 

or whether their contributions made 

us proud. After all making a week or 

meek person the president of state 

BJP would tantamount to mockery 

of Modi! 

The state BJP would require a 

leader who would guarantee victory 

in the ensuing assembly elections as 

Modi needs more numbers in Rajya 

Sabha. The next state president of BJP 

would also have a herculean task of 

keeping the party’s image as clean as 

Modi’s image which might sometime 

require a ruthless attitude, especially 

while cleaning up weeds that may 

have cropped up in the recent times. 

Two years back Modi’s charisma 

and capability had inspired 200 odd 

professionals from across the world 

to give up their flourishing career 

and join Modi’s back office. Will the 

incoming president of state BJP be 

able to attract at least 50 such professionals 

to play various roles for the 

party run up to the assembly elections 

2016? 

The president in the wings would 

The next state 

president of BJP 

would also have 

a herculean task 

of keeping the 

party’s image as 

clean as Modi’s 

image which 

might sometime 

require a 

ruthless attitude, 

especially while 

cleaning up 

weeds that may 

have cropped 

up in the recent 

times. 

be expected to develop district wise 

business models on the basis of competitive 

advantages of each district 

with some sort of disruptive innovations 

for faster turnaround of the 

economy as well as bring about a 

wave positive vibration. 

The central government will dole 

out numerous schemes for revival of 

the various sectors of the state in the 

coming months which will require an 

army of watchdogs in the state BJP to 

monitor effective implementations in 

the state. 

The state BJP would also require 

various think tank groups, not necessarily 

from among the party members, 

to draw out road maps for the 

various sectors of the state economy 

to showcase big but doable picture of 

economic revival. 

The onus also lies on the elected 

MPs to get back to the ground and 

give back to the people. Modi has already 

redefined governance and spelt 

out his style of functioning. Going by 

the Modi style, he will allow the MPs 

to stay in Delhi only during parliament 

sessions. Similarly, he will not 

let his ministers waste time writing 

letters to each other about problems 

of their respective state or constituency. 

Outrageous performance by the 

MPs, clean image of the party, regular 

check on the entry of undesired 

people to BJP, grass root penetration 

with unprecedented aggressiveness 

and a grand plan to bring back Assam 

from the brink, will hold the key to 

BJP’s success in 2016 assembly elections. 

Until then we wait and watch 

the character, commitment, capability 

and communication skills of the 

emerging leaders in the state BJP.

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 15 

Health 

ROLE OF VIDEO EEG IN EPILEPSY 

Dr. Mausumi Barthakur. MD. 

The key to adding any investigation 

tool to diagnose a special 

disease is to provide measurable 

advantage in terms of subsequent 

patient management. Video EEG is an 

important tool in diagnosis and classification 

of epilepsy. 

Role of Video in film making, 

news coverage, management recruitment, 

distance learning, etc. are well 

accepted areas in today’s life. Designers 

and researchers around the world 

can hold video discussion about product 

design, carry out component modifications 

and advance development 

time lines without increasing their 

carbon footprint, as quoted in different 

research papers. 

Role of video recording in medical 

science is limited to recording of 

different surgical procedures so far. 

Video Elecoencephalography, is an 

unique diagnostic tool for diagnosis 

of epilepsy, a disease arising from the 

brain. 

Electroencephalography (EEG) 

is the most specific test for diagnosing 

epilepsy because it records the 

electrical activity of the brain. It is a 

safe and painless procedure in which 

electrodes, a small cup shaped device 

made of silver or gold, are applied to 

the patient’s scalp with a special paste 

or glue. These electrodes are then connected 

by wires to an electrical box, 

which in turn is connected to an EEG 

machine. Several types of EEG are 

used to diagnose epilepsy, including 

Routine EEG, Ambulatory EEG, and 

Video-EEG Monitoring. 

A Video-EEG monitoring is that 

procedure during which the EEG is recorded 

for a prolonged period, accompanied 

by continuous closed-circuit 

video observation. The digitized EEG 

and recorded behavior are displayed 

simultaneously, allowing point-topoint 

correlations of recorded events 

and any accompanying electrographic 

changes. 

Having a correlation of the recorded 

behavior (video) and the EEG 

activity, the diagnosis of seizures or 

activities mimicking seizures, can 

be made definitely in nearly all cases. 

EEG-video is the standard criteria for 

the diagnosis of all epilepsies. 

As a general rule, prolonged EEGvideo 

monitoring should be obtained 

on any patient who continues to have 

frequent seizures despite antiepileptic 

drugs. 

EEG-video monitoring has become 

available at most of the large 

referral centers. In North East India, 

GNRC Hospitals, a tertiary care hospital, 

has this facility of long term Video 

EEG monitoring, in the Sixmile campus. 

This center was established on 

19 th January 2011 and has served more 

than three thousand patients till date. 

The EEG itself is an extremely 

safe test. The wires used to 

record electrical activity only 

record: they do not deliver 

electrical current to the scalp. 

Can an EEG be Normal Even if the 

Person Has Epilepsy ? 

A routine EEG which is done to 

record brain activity during seizures, 

that is in a normal state, the recorded 

EEG may also be normal, just as the 

person behaving normally between 

the attacks, in 50% of the patients. 

To increase the chances of finding 

an abnormality on the EEG, it can be 

recorded in various circumstances: 

• During both wakefulness and sleep 

(sometimes a sleeping pill can be 

used) 

• After sleep deprivation (lack of sleep 

can cause epilepsy waves on the 

EEG) 

• With 3 to 5 minutes of deep breathing 

(hyperventilation) 

• With flashing lights (photic stimulation) 

• With special electrodes 

For prolonged periods (ambulatory 

and video EEG), which increases the 

sensitivity of the tests to 80%. 

The purpose of Video EEG Monitoring 

(VEM) is to answer the following 

questions: 

• Are the episodes of seizures a disorder 

arising from brain? 

• If not, what are they? A seizure look 

like? 

• If they are arising from brain, which 

part of brain? 

• And most importantly, are they are 

curable?? 

How Safe is an EEG? 

The EEG itself is an extremely safe 

test. The wires used to record electrical 

activity only record: they do not 

deliver electrical current to the scalp. 

The technologist will, however, often 

perform “provocative” methods described 

below (hyperventilation and 

photic stimulation) that could provoke 

seizures in special populations. 

How long does VEM (Video EEG 

Monitoring) take? 

The duration of VEM varies from 

a few hours in one day to continuous 

monitoring over many hours for 

a week, depending on how often the 

patient is having seizures. Generally, 

we like to record 2 or 3 typical 

seizures. If the person has different 

types of seizures, we like to record 

examples of each if possible. 

. 

What the patient does during VEM? 

Patient needs to stay in bed or in 

a chair, in constant view of the camera 

at all times. This includes during 

meals, sleep and other activities. The 

camera can be turned away during 

bathing and toileting for privacy. 

Toys, books, school work, battery 

operated games and portable 

radio/CD players that can be used in 

the limited space of the ward ,can be 

brought along. For school age children, 

we recommend that you bring 

school work to try and mimic normal 

daytime activity. 

What is the parent or care taker 

required to do during VEM? 

A parent, adult relative or care taker 

needs to be with the child at all times 

during VEM. VEM usually requires 

2 people to be available to help with 

monitoring during the day and night. 

Please discuss this with your Physician 

or with the epilepsy nurse specialist, 

prior to admission. The attendant (parent, 

adult relative or carer) is required 

to: Press a seizure button, record on 

a sheet of paper, and report to staff 

the time and type of seizures. The attendant 

therefore needs to be familiar 

with the child’s seizures. Help keep the 

child occupied and on camera, often 

the most difficult part of VEM. 

The EEG technologists and nursing 

staff will demonstrate the video- 

EEG recording equipment when the 

VEM is set up.

16 

Sports 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

SPAIN CRASH 

OUT, ENGLAND 

ON THE BRINK 

HOLLAND, CHILE & COLOMBIA QUALIFY 

koushik hazarika 

Mexican Goal Keeper Guillermo 

Ochoa saving a blinder against Brazil 

The FIFA World Cup 2014 has started at a 

frenetic pace and the fans of the beautiful game 

are gleefully rubbing hands at the prospect of 

the latter half of the group matches. 

As the FIFA World Cup slowly 

starts churning out the 16 

teams for the knock-out 

phase, you cannot help but notice that 

this has been one of the most exciting 

contests in the recent years. The first 

few matches have been fast and most 

of the teams have preferred to attack 

than play safe, willing to hold out for 

a draw, which has made for exciting 

viewing. Well, even Italy seems to 

have adopted an attacking style with 

them defeating England with a 2-1 

scoreline. 

TIKI-TAKA TAKEN 

An intense, high-pressure and 

energetic Chile team made sure that 

the reigning world champions Spain 

would not go beyond the group stage 

of the FIFA World Cup. Eduardo 

Vargas and Charles Aránguiz scored 

for Chile to make it 2-0 within the 

first half and the score remained that 

way till the end with Spain failing to 

The Robbers: Arjen Robben & Robbin Van Persie 

grabed a brace each against Spain 

take advantage of the scoring advantages 

they got. As many experts and 

pundits have rightly pointed out, the 

defending champions and two-time 

European winners have been ‘found 

out.’ Their brand of pass-and-move 

football, which had made them irresistible 

and invincible over the last 

seven to eight years, have been studied 

and scrutinised by teams and the 

weaknesses figured out. 

Without doubt, the kind of football 

that they have played over the 

years was pleasing to the eye but a 

higher-intensity game with fast closedowns, 

as deployed by Chile undid 

them. It was even more evident when 

the Dutch ripped them apart with five 

goals in their first group match. Interestingly, 

the Spanish team’s decline 

has also coincided with the decline 

of the Barcelona team which failed to 

win any trophy last year. It could have 

been a case of lack of hunger with 

coach Del Bosque sticking to his old 

Busquets cannot believe that he just missed a sitter against Chile 

and trusted team to take him through 

the world cup. What was even more 

surprising was the inclusion of Gerard 

Pique ahead of Miranda of Atletico 

Madrid with the former having 

had a below-par season whereas the 

latter was a part of the league winning 

team of Los Colchoneros. With Spain 

being eliminated, this is the third 

time that the defending champions 

have been dumped out at the group 

stage after France and Italy suffered 

the same fate in the last two editions 

of the cup. 

ENGLISH EGO BRUISED 

It seems that the England team 

would need to wait till the World Cup 

of 2018 in Russia until they win their 

second world cup. With a 2-1 defeat 

to Uruguay on Thursday, the English 

find themselves on the brink of an embarrassing 

exit from the group stage 

having lost their first match with the 

same score against the unpredictable 

Italians. If it was former Manchester 

city forward Mario Balotelli who did 

the damage against them for Italy, it 

was Luis Suarez, the Liverpool striker, 

who scored both the goals in Uruguay’s 

win over England. The same 

game also saw an unwittingly poor 

performance from Steven Gerrard, 

Suarez’s Liverpool team mate as the 

midfielder was guilty of baffling errors 

that could not connect England’s 

play. It is quite puzzling that the English 

team, which boasts of world-class 

players of individual brilliance have 

not been able to find the right style to 

play. Right from the star-studded days 

of Sven Goran Eriksson to the present, 

the English players have failed to live 

up to the hype and flattered to deceive 

each time. Maybe Hodgson does not 

have the pedigree or Capello should 

have been retained, it remains to be 

seen, whether the English will ever 

be able to live up to the expectations. 

The fans will hope that the budding 

young stars like Raheem Sterling, 

Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere, Oxlade 

Chamberlain, Ross Barkley and 

others will realise their potential and 

deliver the English hopes of a second 

world cup title. 

THE ONES THAT 

GOT THROUGH 

As on Friday morning, three 

teams namely Holland, Chile and 

Colombia have made it out of the 

group stages with six points apiece 

with Italy playing Costa Rica on Friday 

night to try and wrap up their six 

pints required to go through to the 

next stage. Judging by the first games 

of the ongoing world cup, the most 

potent teams seem to be Holland and 

Germany in terms of style and Chile 

and Colombia in terms of grit and determination. 

The two other favourites Argentina 

and Brazil are also expected to 

qualify from the group stage although 

both these Latin American powerhouses 

have yet to shift into higher 

gears with Argentina barely beating 

Bosnia and the Brazilians drawing 

with Mexico after a mind-boggling 

display of shot stopping by the Mexican 

goalkeeper Ochoa. 

The FIFA World Cup 2014 is well 

and truly underway and with more 

than three weeks of action yet to take 

place, the party has just begun. While 

the late night timings of the matches 

have surely cancelled out all possibilities 

of a night of football with 

friends at a pub, the fans are losing 

all the sleep they can catch up on the 

matches. 

koushik.hazarika@g-plus.in

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 17 

Happiness is a journey, not a destination 

ritu gupta 

gritu21@yahoo.com 

Many a times I sit and wonder 

- What is it that we actually 

want in life? We are never at 

peace and we are always running the 

rat race, not satisfied in life. Is this all 

that we need? Always trying to compete 

with others and forgetting that we 

are our own rivals. If at all, we need to 

compete then why not compete with 

ourselves. 

Look for all the things that we 

are blessed with - a healthy body and 

a healthy mind. Look around and see 

that there is so much of misery, pain 

and hatred. Are we not blessed with 

an emotion called love? Can’t we conquer 

the world with love? But no, we 

are smitten by hatred and jealousy. 

Some call life a journey while others 

call it a battlefield. Choice is ours how 

we want our life to be. Hardship and 

pain is but a part of the journey. Negative 

thoughts always make us negative 

but the moment we substitute it with a 

little positivity, the whole aura changes. 

Today’s world is a competitive 

world and to be at par, we need to 

live a balanced life nurtured by love, 

tolerance and perseverance. Trying 

to be with people who give you positive 

vibes, making friends who will 

Tirus, told me the other day, “Mom, why 

don’t you buy books from Flipkart.com?” 

Disarming question for a 6 year old! But I 

guess kids are far smarter than what we were as 

children. We were treated like kids and were not 

meant to be over smart. 

Not anymore! We now have to talk and 

behave with kids in a way that they want us to; 

intelligently? 

But Tirus, I might sound like a person way 

behind everyone’s league, but what the heck! 

I love picking up books from the bookstore... 

smelling the rows and rows of books lined up 

on the shelves and just flipping through a book, 

which I would probably never buy. Just like that! 

The very feel of pages, touching them, thumbing 

through them and then sniffing in between the 

pages just to catch a whiff of the new pages. Oh, 

heaven! The most delirious feeling ever! 

I remember Sangita, my neighbour from 

Shillong; a girl with special qualities. She would 

invariably wake me up with her first ‘Sa’, which 

was louder than the ‘Re, Ga, Ma.....’, around six 

in the morning. Even though I would try hard to 

rock myself back to sleep with her crooning, Mom 

would come, as is ritualistic, stand next to my bed 

and in a voice too loud and stern for my comfort, 

say, “There see, Sangita is up and practicing her 

singing. And here, you are still sleeping. Get up 

right now!” And with eyes half closed, to catch a 

last glimpse of the handsome man in my dreams, 

I would woefully drag myself out of bed. 

So Sangita made it a habit to regularly 

come to my place whenever there was a holiday, 

sit cross-legged in the living room sofa and read 

one of my many books in one and a half hours 

flat. Wow! I have never completed a book that 

stand by you like a pillar and trusting 

your family who will never leave you 

come what may. With time, the family 

culture is breaking down. It is so sad 

to see that we are not able to trust one 

another. 

MANTRA TO HAPPY LIVING: 

• Making peace with one self is the 

key to happy life. 

• Making life simple. 

• Smiling and laughing come what 

may. 

• Going for walks. 

• Meditation and yoga. 

• Drinking plenty of water. 

• Trying to enjoy your own life and 

not bothering about others. 

• Connecting with like minds. 

Transmutation 

fast. I take time, read, think, analyse, ponder, 

dream and leaf through the pocket dictionary 

and the big fat Thesaurus once in a while. I love 

it this way! Even now, I take time to complete 

a book. 

My reading habit was serious though as a 

girl. I remember, when I came for my holidays to 

Guwahati, I would stack up my room with books 

and comics brought from my cousin’s place. I 

would read them morning, day and night. And 

when I ran out of stock, I would re-read them. 

The Famous Fives, The Secret Sevens, The 

Naughty Girl Series, The Brer Rabbit Series; the 

list was endless. And the best part was my friends 

and family gifted me books for my birthday. 

What joy! 

I would wake up in the morning and even 

before I brushed, I would complete a couple of 

pages of a book. Then, after breakfast, after 

lunch, in the evening and after dinner. Mom 

would keep reprimanding me, “You are reading 

too much, if something happens to your eyes, just 

see what I do to you.” I did have to take power 

glasses when I was in Class 6 but thankfully the 

doc said my myopic condition was purely hereditary 

and had nothing to do with my reading habit. 

And my reading started with double the spirit 

‘cause now Mom would have nothing to say! 

However, mother knew how interested I 

was in books. She would make me very happy 

when she announced that she would be taking 

me to the district library. She would take me almost 

every Sunday where we would both sit and 

read for hours and hours and leave only when 

the final bell rang to close the library. Both of us 

would definitely come home with a book each to 

read and return within fifteen days time. I would 

• Count your blessings. 

• Maintaining a healthy life. 

Communication is one tool, which 

is very important. We need to be very 

vocal with our thoughts. Restricting 

your words many a times gives 

you more stress. It is very important 

to speak out your feelings. No man 

is born perfect but to accept a person 

with all the imperfections makes life 

easy. Acceptance is very important. 

Some of the problems in life is because 

we look for perfection. Life is how we 

make it. Let it flow like a river accepting 

everything that life has to give us. 

The essence of a perfect life is accepting 

where you are and making the 

most out of it every day. 

be almost tripping over myself to start reading 

the book. 

As if that was not enough, we had this very 

special pastry shop, Guddettis’s near the State 

bank at Laitumkhrah. Apart from the soft chocolate 

balls brushed over with fine coconut powder, 

there would be this amazingly quaint bookshelf 

full of the widest collection of books. And the best 

part was we could borrow the books for a small 

fee! The stylish Anglo-Indian gentleman would 

write my name and the date I had to return the 

book in the card placed in a jacket stuck to the 

inside back cover. And off I would run to delve 

into the pages with a searing passion. In a special 

way, those days were the most magical! 

But over the years I have noticed that everyone 

seems to want things on a platter even 

faster than the Maggi-two minute noodles. Have 

we forgotten this most beautiful romantic affair 

with books? The new, the old, all have their 

distinctive aroma, a heady concoction to steer us 

into a mystic realm. An aphrodisiac, I may say! I 

cannot stay without touching a book. Throughout 

the day, I have to feel either the hard-cover or 

a paper-back to get me started through life. I 

have books in the living room, the veranda, the 

washroom, in the bedroom, study room and not 

to forget my car and my handbag. I am intensely 

in love with the books all around me! I know 

that even if I can catch up on two or three pages 

when I am waiting at the dentists, it gives me an 

exhilarating feeling; an amazing feeling of freedom! 

Freedom to transmute 

myself at will! 

tinat ATIFA MASOOD 

Life 

Question: what is the main mantra 

or key to happiness in life? 

The key to happiness in life is to 

not stay stuck in ‘I…Me…Mine’ 

(meaning one’s own personal desires 

or material gains). Dedicate your life 

to some larger goal, or to the service of 

others around you. Then you will find that 

only happiness flows through your life. 

The second thing you need to remember 

at all times is this, ‘There is someone 

(the Divine) who loves me very dearly, 

and is taking care of me at all times. He 

cannot be without me and He is all capable 

of removing any lack that I have’. 

Knowing this too brings such joy in 

one’s life. 

See, when it comes to doing things 

in life, you cannot possibly go on doing 

something or the other all your life. Also, 

you cannot do something which is beyond 

your capabilities. So all your actions are 

limited by your capabilities and by time. 

For example, a new-born child is not 

able to do many things by himself until 

he becomes 5-10 years of age. Until then 

he is dependent on others for many of his 

needs. In the same way, when we grow old 

and become 70-80 years of age, we find 

that there is very little that we can do on 

our own. We again become dependent on 

others around us. 

This intermediate time in our lives is 

when we are capable of doing something. 

And in that time period too, we will still be 

able to do only as much as our capabilities 

allow us to do. 

The same person cannot become a 

doctor and an engineer and a bureaucrat 

all together at once. He can only become 

of these three. So everyone has different 

capabilities, and the limitations that time 

places on each person are different (meaning 

depending on the age of a person). 

Everyone has different strengths. 

There is a limit to our capability also. You 

will not be able to do something today, as 

well as you could do it 10 years ago when 

you were younger, isn’t it so? 

What you are doing now, is something 

you will not be able to do so well, 

after 20 years from now. So we are dependent 

on both time and our capabilities. 

But when we remember this – that 

there is a Supreme power which belongs to 

us so totally, which is capable of fulfilling 

all our needs and wishes, and which is with 

us at all times – then this strong faith alone 

can keep us happy at all times. 

It does not matter what you call this 

Supreme power, whether you call it the 

Guru Shakti, or the Paramatma (supreme 

soul or Consciousness), or God. When 

you have this faith in you, then you can 

be happy at all times; regardless of your 

capabilities. Then you will not feel weak 

and insecure in your old age also because 

you know that there is someone who is 

all-powerful who is taking care of you and 

protecting you at all times. 

So just having this faith alone can 

make us so happy. 

As age progresses, our strengths and 

capabilities diminish. This is natural. 

You see many people, as they grow 

old they become so dejected and insecure. 

Their face reflects only misery and sorrow. 

The older they get the more miserable they 

become. But a devotee is not like this at all. 

For a devotee, the older he gets, the more 

joyful and happy he becomes. He smiles 

more and more, and is happy at all times. 

A devotee thinks, ‘Oh, I have seen it 

all. I have known and understood it all. I 

am happy and content from within. And 

God is there with me at all times to fulfil 

all of my needs’. 

So with this deep feeling of faith, a 

devotee will remain happy at all times. 

This is something we all must remember. 

Once, I had gone to South Africa and 

the people from an Old Age Home there 

came to visit me. Huge crowds of people 

gathered there to meet me. I felt so disappointed 

looking at their faces. I just kept 

wondering what had happened to them. 

They looked so miserable. 

Their children had thrown them 

out of their own homes and put them in 

an Old Age home. They became so depressed 

thinking about their children that 

it showed on their faces. It looked as if they 

hadn’t smiled in ages. 

I met our Art of Living teachers there 

and told them, ‘Make these people attend 

The Happiness Program. Teach them to 

do sadhana and bring them on the path of 

knowledge’. 

After a certain age, one finds it very 

difficult to learn something new. Why is 

this? It is because as we grow old, our sight 

and hearing start to diminish gradually. 

Even if we are able to see or hear 

things, the mind is not able to grasp and 

understand what we have seen or heard. 

Then even if we listen to some knowledge, 

it remains at the external level only, it does 

not sink deep within. Such is the state of a 

person in old age. 

So I told the other people, ‘Just see 

what happens in old age. So keep your life 

dedicated to some greater goal and be in 

knowledge. Do not get caught up in attachment 

and desires, thinking only about 

your children, or your home, etc.’ 

One can hardly imagine what difficulties 

those people must have gone 

through in their lives. How they must 

have earned money to raise and educate 

their children, and after all that, the same 

children brought them to an old age home 

and paid some money for their parents to 

be looked after. Once in a year they visit 

their parents, or write a letter to them if 

they cannot come to meet them; like during 

Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day, etc. The 

fate of those poor old parents is really very 

unfortunate. 

But when we have this unshakable 

faith that there is a Supreme Power with 

me at all times which loves me dearly 

and belongs to me, and will never leave 

me; then the strength we get from such a 

faith makes us glow with happiness, and 

our face lights up with a smile that never 

fades. This is why Spirituality is very essential 

in life. It is spirituality that brings 

happiness, enthusiasm, intuition, selfrealization 

and 

the fulfillment of 

all that one wishes 

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji

18 

Reviews 

Watch 

Dogs 

(PS4, Xbox One, PC, 

PS3, Xbox 360 

GAME 

REVIEW 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

Director: Sajid Khan 

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Reteish Deshmukh, Ram 

Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Esha Gupta, Tamannah 

Clearly, Sajid Khan doesn’t 

believe in less being more. 

In ‘Humshakals’, he ups his 

game three-fold. From ‘Hum Do 

Hamara Ek’, he goes full tilt for 

‘Hum Do Hamaare Teen’, so we 

get everything multiplied by three. 

The more the merrier? Nope. 

Just ‘teen tigaada, kaam bigaada’. 

From past experience, you 

have to go into a Sajid Khan film 

wondering just how much of a dip 

there can be from the previous 

ones. This one is way beyond. Idiocy 

is a gentle term for what is unleashed 

upon us. You can also call 

it a two-and-a- half hour show reel 

of plot-less, witless, joylessness. 

I am all for political incorrectness. 

Silliness can be great 

fun. But brainless doesn’t have to 

translate to brain-dead, when it is 

done with smarts. ‘Humshakals’ 

has zero. Even in his really terrible 

moments, Sajid has managed to 

come up with one laugh out loud 

moment. Or two. Here there are 

none. 

Instead, there’s Saif Ali Khan, 

Riteish Deshmukh and Ram Kapoor 

in a threesome. Actually, if 

only. What we get is three Saifs, 

three Riteshes, and three Rams, 

in various stages of derangement. 

And three women (Bipasha, Esha, 

Tamannah), who stand around 

in various stages of wispy shortskirted 

dressage, squealing and 

giggling. 

There are some scenes in London 

and Mauritius, but the film is 

shot mostly within what is repeatedly 

called a ‘paagalkhana’, studded 

with lots of ‘goras’ behaving 

like Bollywood’s idea of ‘mental 

patients’. But that’s only for scenery. 

Mostly the film is stuffed with 

Saif (looking jaded and tired) and 

Riteish (trying to keep his head 

above water) waving their hands, 

making faces, sticking their 

tongues out. Or being tied up and 

‘tortured’ by a Satish Shah who 

thinks he is Hitler and Gaddafi 

and Idi Amin, all rolled into one. 

Or stuffing tennis balls, no footballs, 

down their shirt-fronts, and 

dashing about in lipstick and high 

heels and waxed legs. If there is a 

scarier sight than the jovial Ram 

Kapoor in drag, hit me with it, and 

I will hand you a lollipop. 

Because that’s what Kapoor 

the Third uses as a pacifier, when 

he is not pacing about his cell in 

an underground cage. Where am 

I going with this, did you say? 

Relax, dear viewers, this is not a 

spoiler, it’s just a little detail in this 

jaw-droppingly, numbingly awful 

plot. If you can call it one. 

When the director is not taxing 

our brains with his story, he is 

taking pot-shots at his favourite 

targets. The seriously ill, the disabled, 

the mentally challenged, thegay 

people, the black people, the 

short people, are all on his radar. 

And us, the poor saps, who are sitting 

in the dark, hoping to be lead 

to light. 

Actually, let me correct myself. 

There IS one good joke in 

here. It’s when Sajid holds out his 

own version of a 60s potboiler as a 

weapon. His victims go cross-eyed 

and shout ‘nahiiiiin’, we crack 

a smile. This is a flash of the old 

Sajid, willing to take a joke, and 

stretch for one. 

Where has that Sajid gone? Or 

is this his ‘humshakal’ in the director’s 

chair? 

Hum 

Shakals 

Holiday 

YOU 

SHOULD 

LISTEN 

Apsara 

Cinema 

Artist: Linking Park 

Daily at 11AM, 

2,5 & 8 PM 

THE HUNTING PARTY 

NOW SHOWING 

Anuradha 

Cineplex 

Daily at 

11AM, 2,5 

& 8 PM 

More than a decade ago, 

Linkin Park sold a couple 

zillion records by 

making better-than-Bizkit rap 

metal and collaborating with Jay 

Z. They’ve since wandered the emo 

wilderness, and singer Chester 

Bennington is now also fronting 

Stone Temple Pilots. But on Album 

Six they’re back with a retro-neoaggro 

sound that would’ve been 

too intense for modern-rock radio 

in 1999. Tom Morello guests 

on guitar; the mook-punk yowler 

“Guilty All the Same” features oldschool 

rap god Rakim. Even pushing 

40, these dudes can still bring 

it like backward-ball-cap warriors 

hopped up on Mountain Dew and 

Dad’s fourth divorce. 

Happily 

Murdered 

Author: Rasleen Syal 

The radiant new daughter-inlaw 

of the influential Mehta 

family dies mysteriously on 

the very next night of her wedding. 

The murder is an inside job, the police 

are certain. It could be anyone, 

the adulterous husband, conniving 

in-laws, jealous friend and the love 

struck ex-fiance. With an aim to save 

themselves and incriminate others, it 

Fun Cinemas 

Daily at 9, 

11.45 Am, 

5.30 & 8.30 

PM 

Daily at 2.30 

PM 

Gold Cinema 

(Fancy Bazar) 

Daily at 5, 8 & 

8.30 PM 

Daily at 5.30 

PM 

Set in Chicago, where a central 

network of computers connects 

everyone and everything, 

Watch_Dogs explores the impact of 

technology within our society. Using 

the city as your weapon, you will embark 

on a personal mission to inflict 

your own brand of justice. 

Chicago’s overarching network 

is known as the Central Operating 

System (ctOS), and it controls almost 

all of the city’s technology and information 

- including key data on all of 

the city’s residents. 

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant 

hacker, whose criminal past led 

to a violent family tragedy. While 

seeking justice for those events, 

you’ll monitor and hack those 

around you by manipulating the 

ctOS from the palm of your hand. 

You’ll access omnipresent security 

cameras, download personal information 

to locate a target, control 

traffic lights and public transportation 

to stop the enemy... and more. 

Watch_Dogs takes place in a fully 

simulated living city. Using Aiden’s 

smartphone, you have real-time 

control over the city’s infrastructure. 

Trap your enemy in a 30-car 

pileup by manipulating the traffic 

lights. Stop a train, and then board 

it to evade the authorities. Narrowly 

escape capture by quickly raising a 

drawbridge. Anything connected to 

the ctOS can become your weapon. 

Not only does Watch_Dogs give 

you the ability to take advantage of 

the ctOS, it also allows you to explore 

the many layers of Chicago itself. Cut 

through buildings, scale rooftops, 

and explore the city’s dangerous underground 

to catch your target. 

is not long before these suspects turn 

into amateur detectives, hunting for 

clues and delving into hidden secrets 

only they can unearth. They coerce, 

pry and blackmail in an attempt to 

get to the bottom of this mystery. Will 

one of these nine unlikely sleuths finally 

unravel the mystery behind Gulab’s 

death and avenge it? Or will the 

truth die as viciously as Gulab? 

Gold Cinema 

(Paltan 

Bazar) 

Daily at 11, 

11.30 AM, 2, 

5, 8 & 8.30 

PM 

Daily at 2.30 

& 5.30 PM 

YOU 

SHOULD 

READ 

Gold Cinema 

(Narengi) 

Daily at 11 

AM, 2, 5 , 8 

PM

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 19 

Google to launch In-Car Auto Link 

OS to rival Apple’s CarPlay 

Web Watch 

5 Free Android apps to 

enjoy the FIFA World 

Cup Brazil 2014 

The FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 have already started and you 

maybe wondering how you can use your Android device to get 

the most out of the experience. Today there is an android app 

for almost everything, be it blogging, photo editing, messaging etc. 

In this article we will share 5 best android apps to enjoy FIFA World 

Cup Brazil 2014. 

FIFA Official App 

Google will be announcing its 

Google Auto Link (GAL) at 

its upcoming Google I/O developer 

conference, in San Francisco 

in June. Google’s Auto Link system is 

the first product developed in partnership 

with the Open Automotive 

Alliance, a group of companies including 

Audi, Honda, General Motors, 

Hyundai, chipmaker NVIDIA 

Corp and Google. 

Google’s Auto Link software 

is not an “embedded” system but a 

“projected” one, meaning that smartphones 

using Google’s Android operating 

system could be controlled using 

a car’s own controls and display 

screen. 

Google plans to reveal the interface 

and offer demonstrations to 

developers at the Google I/O conference, 

scheduled for June 25-26 in 

San Francisco. The Open Automotive 

Alliance’s was announced by the 

company in January and also said 

that it will be launching Android 

operating system in cars “starting in 

2014.” 

Google itself is quite familiar to 

many drivers from existing interfaces. 

Hyundai drivers can use a builtin 

Google search engine and voice 

commands to find nearby destinations 

and Audi uses Google Earth 

satellite images for its GPS maps. 

Apart from Auto Link Google is also 

planning to develop new Android 

platform features which, the company 

says will, “enable the car itself 

to become a connected Android device”. 

The Auto Play OS competes with 

Apple’s CarPlay in-car operating system 

unveiled at this year’s Geneva 

Motor Show. Apple’s Car Play interface 

resembles the iPhone and has 

several in-car functions. Apple described 

it as “a smarter, safer way to 

use your iPhone in the car”. Volvo’s 

new infotainment system will feature 

CarPlay in its next generation XC90 

SUV. Other automakers that will use 

CarPlay include Honda, Hyundai, 

Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar. 

Amazon unveils its 3D Fire Phone 

This is the official FIFA app 

for android, it features standings, 

a schedule, coverage of the 

whole event. It also run offers 

like chance to win a kickoff ball, 

vote for the man of the match etc. 

Other features includes player 

profiles, break downs and a lot 

more information and coverage 

of the event. 

Forza Soccer 

Forza Soccer is a very popular 

app among many football fans 

around the world as it brings informations 

like scores, push notifications, 

and video highlights 

for hundreds of leagues around 

the world. 

TuneIn Radio 

TuneIn Radio isn’t a sports 

app, it’s a radio app but they have 

radio stations that will be covering 

the FIFA World Cup. You can 

listen to much more about the 

events. It comes with social media 

integration for Google+ and 

Facebook so you don’t need to 

make an account. 

WatchESPN 

This is an excellent App 

which will let you watch all the 64 

matches live online for free. 

ESPN FC Soccer & 

World Cup 

Amazon has unveiled its first 

foray into the smartphone 

market -- a new device called 

the Fire Phone that features 3D display 

capabilities. 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took the 

stage to introduce the new phone at a 

press event in Seattle. 

The Fire Phone features a 4.7- 

inch screen, measured diagonally, 

making it smaller than leading Android 

phones but larger than Apple’s 

iPhone. Bezos calls it ideal for onehanded 

use. 

The highly anticipated 3D display 

is called dynamic perspective, 

and it shifts the images on screen to 

account for a user’s angle of viewing 

and movement of the phone. 

CNET’s Roger Cheng said, “The 

images do look a lot better than they 

have in past 3D phones.” 

How does it work? “Amazon is 

doing two things that are different,” 

Sanjay Patel told, a professor at the 

University of Illinois at Urbana- 

Champaign and CEO at Personify, 

an immersive video technology company. 

“First on the imaging side, 

they’re using four infrared sensors 

to really capture and identify a users’ 

head position. They are getting 

it down to the eyeball level so that 

the phone knows where your eyes are 

relative to the screen on the phone - 

and they’ve come up with a low cost 

way to do this. Second, they’ve designed 

the display so that it is capable 

of providing a 3D perspective without 

the need for 3D glasses or exotic 

technology.” 

This app have a whole bunch 

of awesome features that any 

football fan would love to have. 

They include video highlights, indepth 

reporting and analysis, and 

even some unique features like 

Twitter integration so you can see 

the up to date news, rumors, and 

stories. 

Indrajeet Bhuyan is a 16 year old tech blogger and security researcher. 

He is passionate about computers and believes in sharing 

knowledge and information . He uses his spare time helping people 

and companies secure themselves. fb.me/indrajeet.bhuyan

20 

G-Talk 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

Have the authorities done enough to resolve 

the urban flood problem in Guwahati? 

Munmee R Das 

Teacher 

Bedatrayee Mitra 

House wife 

POINT 

COUNTERPOINT 

It is very easy to blame others for any sort of 

wrongdoings but have we ever asked ourselves 

about problems being faced by others in their 

daily lives. Have we ever given a thought to consider 

if anyone has suffered from any consequences 

of a deed done by us? 

I believe most of us have not. Yes, there is flash 

flood in the city every time a there is a spell of 

rain and it is getting worse day by day. The drains 

and rivers like Bharalu are being littered and encroached 

on by the public. This obstructs the natural 

flow of water in the drains and the river. It is 

understandable even for a small child that without 

a proper drainage channel, the water will not flow 

smoothly. Therefore, it is very important to keep 

the drains and rivers clean. 

But people make mistakes at this and think 

that it is the sole responsibility of the authorities 

to keep the drains clean. It is also true that there is 

a lack in the approach of the authorities handling 

any situation - be it flood control or cleaning of the 

drains on time or any other issues. 

However, at the same time, it is the responsibility 

of the citizens like us to keep the drains 

clean and free from dumping and encroachment. 

We must throw the garbage only in the dustbins 

or only in places assigned for the same, instead of 

throwing it on the roads or in the drains. 

I would not blame the authorities alone for 

what is happening today in Guwahati because the 

people of the city are equally responsible for the 

consequences of their misdeeds. I have seen some 

workers cleaning the drains, through not at all the 

places of the city. I have also read news on the issue 

that the local authorities have been holding meetings 

on tackling the flood situation of Guwahati 

during the season of monsoon. I am not aware how 

much of their plans have been executed or will be 

accomplished, but one thing is for sure that they 

are showing their interest to resolve 

the flood situation of Guwahati. 

But, it is the responsibility of 

each and every citizen to cooperate 

with the authority in completing or 

executing their jobs. Otherwise, the 

people of the city will have to suffer 

from the problem of waterlogging or 

flash floods forever. 

“I would not 

blame the 

authorities 

alone for what is 

happening today 

in Guwahati 

because the 

people of the 

city are equally 

responsible 

for the 

consequences of 

their misdeeds. 

I have seen 

some workers 

cleaning the 

drains, through 

not at all the 

places of the city 

The problem of urban floods in 

Guwahati is one of the burning 

problems at present. The topography 

of the city is such that rainwater 

cannot drain out easily from the heart 

of the city. With rapid growth of residential 

area in the surrounding hills, 

sediment yield from the immediate 

There are 

examples of 

so many cities 

in India and 

even outside 

India where the 

drainage system 

is very efficient, 

the authorities 

here too can 

borrow some 

ideas or maybe 

hire a private 

party who can 

dedicatedly 

work to solve 

the urban flood 

problem. 

upper catchment is increasing and deposition of the 

same in drains is adding another dimension to this 

problem. Therefore innovative planning and efficient 

design of the drainage network is necessary. 

An effort has been made to study finer details of 

the siltation process by investigating a small part of the 

drainage system. Theoretical analysis has revealed that 

for the existing cross section and bed slope, flow velocity 

in the drain should have exceeded the required 

scouring velocity to make the channel a self-cleansing 

one. Thus, sedimentation occurs due to other factors. 

Possible factors responsible for sediment deposition 

have been analysed and some remedial measures have 

been suggested. It is good that all this is being done by 

the authorities but yet, there is very little being done by 

them according to me. 

It’s not just 2014, but has been an old problem 

which people have been facing every year. If we talk 

about self-responsibility and people encroaching lands 

on the hilltops and low lying wet lands, which is a major 

cause for urban floods, allowing people encroaching 

the lands is, I guess the authorities’ responsibility. 

Why don’t they stop illegal encroachment? 

Now if we say that the drainage system is getting 

improved, I don’t understand why it is so tough to get 

the water out of the city. There are examples of so many 

cities in India and even outside India where the drainage 

system is very efficient, the authorities here too can 

borrow some ideas or maybe hire a private party who 

can dedicatedly work to solve the urban flood problem. 

The engineers working with our urban local body, Guwahati 

Municipal Corporation (GMC), are busy brainstorming 

about how to spend the money and also grant 

permissions to illegal buildings getting constructed in 

the city, which again increases the urban flood scenario. 

The district administration is busy organising various 

events with celebrities. Therefore, how will they get 

time to work on a better drainage system to eradicate 

the problem of urban floods? 

FANCY BAZAAR WOES 

I am a regular reader of GPlus and I must admit that the 

content has improved drastically. I personally like the Ward 

Watch section a lot because it helps me know my city in a better 

way. I read the issue in which the Ward Watch covered 

SRCB Road which is from the Fancy Bazar Police Station 

to the Tiniali. As a resident of Fancy Bazar, I request you to 

cover the Fancy Bazar area as a whole, right from the Fancy 

Bazar Police Station to Vishwaratna, AT Road and the Railway 

Gate No. 4 area which is called the MS Road, and bring 

to the notice of the government the inconvenience of Fancy 

Bazar inhabitants. 

There are innumerable problems faced by us. Rains cause 

overflowing drains, water logging and filthy garbage spread 

all over. People in this area, as well as other commuters, face 

the same problem everywhere, from the vegetable/ fruit markets 

to the residential areas. People have to cover their noses 

because of the stink. Due to the shortage of waste bins, people 

throw garbage anywhere and once it rains, the dirt and 

filth find their way to the roads. It becomes almost impossible 

to walk on the road without spoiling your clothes. The 

situation becomes worse when the people who are on twowheelers 

start riding on the footpath. Where on earth are the 

pedestrians supposed to walk? It is a nuisance which needs 

immediate attention from the government. To top it are the 

LETTER to the editor 

uncovered potholes and manholes in which people keep falling 

every now and then. 

The huge waste bin placed near Railway Gate No. 3, Tokobari 

is always overflowing with garbage. I have to cross the 

railway gate daily to get to work, but shockingly, today was 

the first time I saw GMC authorities cleaning and collecting 

the garbage. 

I hope you would cover the Fancy Bazar area in the Ward 

Watch section of your esteemed publication. Thank you. 

neha jain

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 21 

Bazaar 

CATCHING THE FANCY: THE DSLRs 

The DSLRs are fast becoming the hot sellers with amateurs and enthusiasts turning to both 

entry level and professional products. 

shubhojit roy 

Canon 1200D (Entry Level) 

How often have you seen a 

photograph of yours and 

thought that you do not 

look good in it? Well, most of us 

have thought about it at some point 

and have felt disappointed. Over the 

years, the craze for photography and 

cameras has increased exceptionally. 

The DSLR (Digital single-lens reflex) 

camera giants Nikon and Canon have 

grasped the market very firmly. G 

Plus finds out about the Guwahati 

market of DSLR cameras. 

Canon 60D (Semi Pro) 

Canon EOS 1200D is an 18.1-megapixel 

digital single-lens reflex camera which was 

launched on February 2014. It is known 

as the EOS Kiss X70 in Japan and the EOS 

Rebel T5 in the Americas. The 1200D is an 

entry-level DSLR that introduces 18 MP sensor 

from the 700D and 1080p HD video to 

Canon’s entry level DSLRs and replaces the 

1100D. 

Canon 1200D is presently priced at `39,995 

with an additional 55-250mm lens on offer. 

The camera was priced at around `34,995 

excluding the offer lens. The extra zoom lens 

that is added in the offer is worth `18,000. 

The Craze 

According to Diganta Saharia 

at Canon Image Square in ABC, the 

people have become more aware 

about the quality of a picture. 

“Photographs are memories stored 

in a piece of paper or on a computer 

screen. Photographs have played 

important roles in families since time 

immemorial. If my father wouldn’t 

have clicked my photo when I was 

a child, I wouldn’t have probably 

remembered how I used to look when 

I was young. But now, times have 

changed and people are more aware. 

Now-a-days, people buy DSLRs 

considering the quality factor,” says 

Saharia. He further adds that DSLR 

has also become a style statement 

for the young adults. “Previously, 

the SLRs were mostly bought by 

the professional photographers and 

journalists, but now the students, the 

office-going people and the families 

too prefer DSLRs. Though the saleability 

of digi-cams are still higher 

but percentage wise, the DSLRs are 

selling faster,” mentions Diganta. 

Interestingly, DSLRs have seen a 40% 

rise in its saleability in the last one 

year. 

The Canon EOS 60D is a digital single-lens 

reflex camera from Canon. It was the first 

Canon EOS camera which had an articulating 

LCD screen. As part of the Canon EOS line 

of cameras, it succeeded the EOS 50D and 

preceded the EOS 70D camera.Apart from its 

screen, the main new features of the 60D in 

the two-digit Canon line include increased 

resolution and ISO range, full-HD video 

capabilities, and in-camera post-processing 

functions for the images. It uses the DIGIC 4 

image processor. The best thing about 60D 

is its processing speed and is recommended 

for wildlife photographers and photojournalist 

aspirants. 

The camera is priced at `51,995 and does 

not include any offer. 

Nikon D3200 (Entry Level) 

The Nikon D3200 is a 24.2 megapixelDX 

format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera officially 

launched by Nikon on April 2012. It 

is marketed as an entry-level DSLR camera 

for beginners and experienced DSLR hobbyists 

who are ready for more advanced specs 

and performance. 

The camera is currently priced at `32,950 if 

the customer opts for 18-55mm lens. However, 

if the customer opts for 18-105mm 

lens, the camera would cost `43,950. 

Sony Alpha 58 (Entry Level) 

Canon 600D (Entry Level) 

The Canon EOS 600D is an 18.0 megapixel digital single-lens 

reflex camera, released by Canon on February 2011.The 600D is 

the second Canon EOS camera with an articulating LCD screen and 

supersedes the 550D, although the earlier model was not discontinued 

until June 2012, when the successor of the 600D, the 650D, 

was announced. 

The camera is priced at `41,995 and also has offer of dual lens, 

which is 18-55mm and 55-250mm lens. 

Nikon D800 (Pro) 

The Nikon D800 is a 36.3 megapixel professional 

grade full-frame digital single-lens 

reflex camera produced by Nikon. It was 

given a Gold Award by Digital Photography 

Review. The D800 is a specialized version 

which uses a new optical anti-aliasing filter 

with no low pass filter effect (no blurring) to 

obtain the sharpest images possible. 

The camera is priced at `1,79,950 and does 

not offer any lens. 

The Alpha 58 camera features 5fps burst shooting (8fps in 5MP ‘Tele-Zoom’ mode), 

1080/60i and 1080/24p video in both AVCHD and Mpeg4 formats, 15-point phasedetection 

autofocus system, ISO range of 100-16000, a tiltable 2.7” LCD screen, 

a high-resolution OLED Tru-Finder with 100% coverage, a built in flash, an ISO 

518-compatible Sony hotshoe, a stereo microphone for video shooting and other features. 

The auto-focus system provides eight modes: Phase Detect, Multi-area, Selective 

single-point, Tracking, Single, Continuous, Face Detection, Live View. 

The one major difference between 

the camera giants Canon and Nikon as 

told by Shashanka Gogoi of Himtech 

Corporation, which deals with Nikon 

DSLR is, “You cannot use any other lens 

for Nikon cameras but you can use the 

Nikkor lens for the Canon cameras.” 

Besides the Canon and Nikon, Sony 

too is trying to grasp the market with its 

entry level model of Alpha 58 priced at 

around `35,000 with basic lens. 

With numerous cameras in market, 

it is also seen that lesser people are 

going to the photo studios. With such 

huge competition going on between 

the DSLR manufacturers globally, it 

won’t be surprising if one day the price 

of DSLRs comes down drastically to an 

astonishingly minimal rate. We have 

witnessed how the price of cell phones 

came down over the years because of 

high demand; the same may happen with 

DSLRs as well. 


22 

Fun 

Your weekly dose of TIMEPASS 

HOROSCOPE 

ARIES 

The first day of the week is the 

best day of the week for you. Enthusiasm, 

spontaneity and adventure figure 

strongly. You have such a natural high 

as Monday comes to an end that you 

fly through Tuesday and Wednesday, 

barely noticing how boring they are. 

And then, on Thursday, the pace picks 

up again. On Friday you’re forced to 

be stern with someone whose stubbornness 

is a roadblock to everyone 

else’s happiness. Saturday and Sunday, 

you have energy to spare, but 

unfortunately, a lot of it is consumed in 

family squabbles. 

TAURUS 

You have an itch to buy something, 

but rushing out at the start of the 

week and plunking down cash on the 

first thing that catches your eye will lead 

to regret. You’ve been here before. Try 

to take your time this week. Tuesday 

and Wednesday, indulge in your social 

life — you have loyal friends and great 

chemistry with a certain flirtatious someone. 

The best amusements in life are 

the simple ones. Thursday and Friday, 

you’re racing to get things done before 

the weekend. Saturday and Sunday 

you’re as content as a sheep in a field 

of bright grass. 

GEMINI 

You may not be the only one 

in the group in the mood for a real discussion. 

Take the initiative to open up 

the floor to an intense conversation on 

Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday, 

the skills you need are buried fairly 

deeply inside of you. Both focus and 

resolve — despite the chatter of busybodies 

— are necessary. The answers 

you crave may not be at your fingertips 

toward the end of the week, but 

dialogue (even between people who 

rarely talk) is flowing. Friday has the 

added benefit of a flirtatious encounter, 

but this weekend, for whatever 

reason, you’re singing the blues. Sing 

out. Sing loud. 

CANCER 

Your reflexes couldn’t be faster, 

but on Monday, you don’t necessarily 

want to jump the moment someone 

says to. Take your time. Think things 

through before you say anything or 

even react. Tuesday and Wednesday 

are much more cut out for spontaneity 

— at a dinner gathering, tell the wildest 

stories you know and you’ll be the 

life of the party. Then, Thursday and 

Friday, if you feel like being a daredevil, 

be a daredevil. Your heart is racing, 

and on Saturday, all eyes are on 

you. Wave to your audience. Sunday is 

a day of glorious new beginnings. 

LEO 

Your ability to turn a ho-hum 

outing into the most glorious event 

anyone’s ever been involved with is 

unrivaled. On Monday, your friends 

are clutching their sides with laughter. 

If only you had the same effect on the 

people you work with. Finish whatever 

you’ve got to get done at work on 

Tuesday and Wednesday, and then fly 

out of there. Don’t expect kudos. You 

won’t be rewarded for your efforts until 

the time is right. Thursday and Friday 

are booked solid with social activities. 

That’s great, because you love social 

activities, but take some time for yourself 

this weekend. Mow the lawn. Make 

a pie. Sleep. 

VIRGO 

Money issues are the most pressing 

things on your list at the start of the 

week. Your spirits are high and your 

friends are better than ever, but this 

financial stuff is a drag. Cash is just 

tight right now. Tuesday and Wednesday, 

take your mind off such mundane 

matters by having a picnic in the forest, 

going for a bike ride or throwing a 

stargazing party on your roof. The end 

of the week is all about fulfilling obligations, 

but Saturday and Sunday, you 

get to do whatever you like. There are 

a lot of people who’d like to see you 

. 

LIBRA 

A certain relationship occupies 

your time on Monday. It might be romantic. 

It might be work-related. But 

it’s all-consuming. How things turn out 

between you two depends largely on 

you and the kind of energy you bring 

to the situation. Toward the middle of 

the week, beauty and delicious food 

figure strongly, and on Thursday, a 

random experience with someone you 

barely know turns out to be the most 

fun you’ve had in ages. Friday you 

have your fingers in a lot of pies. The 

future is bright. But Saturday and Sunday 

you have chores to do. 

SCORPIO 

If someone looks like they’re in the 

mood for a fight early in the week, walk 

the other way. You can work out your 

differences another day. Monday’s one 

of those slippery days when things could 

easily get out of hand, so nip problems 

in the bud. Conflict is still in the air on 

Tuesday and Wednesday; if someone’s 

impatient, go out of your way to let them 

cool down. You’re a Gandhi figure with 

lots of nonviolent solutions, but at the end 

of the week, your concentration switches 

to a contractual matter. The fine print 

needs your attention. Saturday and 

Sunday, take a long drive somewhere. 

Crank up the radio. 

SAGITTARIUS 

Who’s up for a game of dodgeball? 

That’s the question on your lips at 

the start of the week. No more of this 

Scrabble business. You want an outside 

game, something to get your blood 

jumping. Tuesday and Wednesday 

you don’t have any time for games, 

with all the urgent yet mundane miscellaneous 

tasks on your plate. But Thursday 

and Friday are hardly boring — 

there are too many things going on to 

keep track of. Saturday and Sunday 

are full of tea, pillows, feelings, deep 

pondering and awesome food. 

CAPRICORN 

Some distant worry occupies part 

of your brain on Monday, but by Tuesday, 

it has dissolved. Children and trees 

figure into your day on Wednesday, and 

Thursday is a veritable symphony of cell 

phones ringing. People love to gab on 

Fridays, for some reason — it must have 

something to do with the imminent weekend 

— but this Friday, you won’t be much 

into extra chatter. You might even say to 

someone, ‘Get on with it.’ Try not to say 

it rudely. Saturday and Sunday, be an 

angel to someone you love. 

AQUARIUS 

TYou see a pattern in the wallpaper 

you’ve never seen before — that’s 

what Monday is like. Nothing changes 

about the outside world, but you order 

its shapes differently in your mind. These 

discoveries you’re making are subtle; nevertheless, 

they persist. On Tuesday and 

Wednesday, the findings you uncover 

have to do with your family. Thursday 

brings a revelation in your love life — it’s 

really something this week — and Friday 

you get to plan a creative date. Unfortunately, 

the weekend is a letdown, mostly 

because of bills, chores, health issues and 

high emotions. Everything will be okay 

soon though. 

PISCES 

You appreciate the beauty of 

low-level clouds, but you don’t appreciate 

being within one at the start of the week. 

How are you supposed to see where 

you’re going? This happens now and 

again in your life, these moments of blind 

bewilderment. Light candles and make 

dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Then read. Don’t commit to social activities. 

You may end up spending Thursday and 

Friday around the house as well — puttering, 

watching DVDs, doing whatever 

occurs to you. This weekend, your energy 

unexpectedly soars. Find an outdoor concert 

to attend. 

SUDOKU 

Solutions (Last Issue) 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

The female brain works on a different tangent than male. 

Last night I was sitting in the living room, talking to my wife about 

life. In-between, we talked about the idea of living or dying. 

I told her, “Never let me live in a vegetative state, totally dependent on 

machines and liquids from a bottle. If you see me in that state, I want 

you to disconnect all the contraptions that are keeping me alive. I’d 

JUST FOR LAUGHs 

much rather die!” 

My wife got up from the sofa with a real look of admiration towards 

me & proceeded to disconnect the Cable TV & DVD, then the 

Computer, the Cell Phone, the iPod, and the Xbox, and then went to 

the bar and threw away all my whisky, rum, gin & vodka and the beer 

from the fridge...

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 23 

PLAY SCHOOLS 

G Plus will keep on publishing such relevant and useful 

information in this page in the coming issues. 

Bachpan School 

Opp Lal Ganesh Second Petrol Pump, Shree 

Nagar Path, Lokhra, Ghy-34 

Ph-9435134581 , 9435112664 

Bachpan School 

Royal Centre, Room No. 203, 2nd Floor, Opp. 

S.B. Deorah College, Bora Service, Ghy- 

1Ph-919707022533 , 03612464837 

DRS Kids School 

House No. 16, Big Bazaar, 3rd By Lane, Ghy -1 

Ph-9706010233, 9954089272 

Euro Kids 

12, Nr Kundil Nagar Path, Rajgarh 

Road, By Lane West, G S Road, Ghy -7 

Ph-9864084492, 9435346098 

Euro Kids 

Basistapur, Lane No 2, Opp Shishu 

Nyas, Wireless Dispur, Ghy-5 

Ph-9435115226 , 03612263025 

Euro Kids Preschool 

51, Shaktigarh Path, G S 

Road, Banghagarh, Ghy-5 

Ph-9435547661 

Hello Kids 

18, Chandan Path, Odalbakra, Ghy -34 

Ph-9854050711 , 9957557876 

Kids World 

Jana Path, Ulubari, Ghy-7 

Ph-03612452924 

Kid Veda 

Boraservice Center- House No-13, Boraser 

vice, Harabala Road, G S Road, Ghy -7 

Ph-8876184411 

Kidzee-Dispur 

Opp. Udeshna Cinema Hall, 2nd Bye Lane, 

Rukmini Gaon, R G Baruah Road, Ghy-5 

Ph-9864036561 tel:+913612269387 

Kidzee 

Six Mile- House No-17, Ghy -22, 

VIP Road, By Lane No-1,Six Miles, Ghy -5 

Ph-9435343755, 9613012442, 9954132721, 

9436046690 

Kidzee 

Bhaskar Nagar, Ramthakur 

Lane, Opp Hotel VIP, Ghy-18, 

Ph-9864508666 , 9435117542 

Kidzee 

Rajgarh, House No- 4, Ghy -7, 

Ph-9864035892, 9864056160 

Compiled by Mautapa Dhar 

Kidzee 

Hengrabari, House No-46, Nr- 

Public Health Office, Ghy-6, 

Ph-9864118383 

Kidzee Beltola Tinytots 

House No-43, Street Chandan 

Nagar Sur vey, Beltola, Ghy-28 

Ph- 9435106135 , 9864134701 

Kidzee 

Jyotikunch, Dhupalia Road, 

Jalukbari, Ghy-13 

Ph-9678409791 , Ph- 9678407745 

Kidzee 

Udalbakra, Adagudam, 

Nr Hanuman Mandir, Shankar Nagar, Ghy -36 

Ph- 9864070323 , 03612476878 

Kindergarden Maligaon 

Suniti Bhawan, Udayachal, Main 

Road, Joymoti Nagar, Pandu, Ghy -12 

Ph-9707715500 , 9706352426 

Shemrock Prachee 

Nr Sluice Gate, R K Chaudhar 

y Road, Bharalumukh, Ghy-9 

Ph-9435407096 , 9435407097 

Shemrock Crayons 

11, Nr Super Market Point, G S Road 

Dilip Huzuri Path, Dispur, Ghy-5 

Ph-9864325003 , 03612235727 

Tree House 

102, Opp Bihutoli, Nr Big Bazar, 

Rajgarh Road, G S Road, Ghy-7 

Ph-9207414402 

The Tree House 

House No 3, Sarania, Bye Lane 

No 4, Guwahati Club, Ghy-3 

Ph-9207414403 


House No 27, Sorumotoria, Dispur, Ghy -5 

Ph-9207414404 


Six Mile, Opp Airtel Building, 

Tulshi Path, Khanapara, Ghy-22 

Ph-9207414407 


House No 23, Bye Lane 3, 

Ganesh Mandir Path, New Guwahati, Ghy -21 

Ph- 9207414408 

EMERGENCY NUMBERS 

AMBULANCE 

Ambulance 102 

Arya Hospital, Ulubari 2606888, 2606665 

Downtown Hospital 9864101111, 9435012669 

GLP Social Circle 2737373 

GGUMTA (Mirza) 03623-227109 

Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251 

HOSPITALS 

Arya Hospital, Ulubari 

(2606888, 2606665) 

B Baruah Cancer Institute 

(2472364/66) 

Brahmaputra Hospital Ltd 

(2451634/678) 

Chatribari Christian 

Hospital 

0361-2600051, 92070- 

44374 

Downtown Hospital 

2331003, 9864079366, 

9435012669 

Guwahati Medical College 

(2529457, 2529561) 

Guwahati Medical College 

Emergency (2263444) 

BLOOD BANK 

Arya Hospital, Ulubari 2606888, 2606665 

Ganga Blood Bank 2454742, 2455029 

Lion’s Club of Ghy Central 2546611 

Marwari Yuva Manch 2546470, 2547251 

Saharia’s Path Lab (24 hours) 2458594 

24-HOUR PHARMACIES 

Arya Hospital, Ulubari (2606888, 2606665) 

DEAD BODY CARRYING VAN 

GLP Social Circle 2737373, 9435047046 

Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251 

GGUMTA 98640-16740 

ELECTRICITY 

SUPPLY 

Call Centre – 

9678005171 

OTHERS 

Fire Emergency 101 

State Zoo 2201363 

GMC Carcass Pickup 9435190720, 

9864047222 

LPG Emergency/Leakage 2385209, 

2541118 

Cinema Hall 

Anuradha Cineplex – 0361-2656968, 99545-44738 

Fun Cinema (HUB)- 98648-00100, 98648-00200 

Gold Cinema (Paltan Bazaar) – 98540-66166 

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

Gold Cinema (Narengi) – 88110-01898 

SP, Kamrup District: Ph- 2540278 

DGP Control Room: Ph- 2540242 

SB Control Room: Ph-2261511 

Police Control Room: Ph-2540138, 

2540113 

Azara PS: Ph2840287 

Basista PS: Ph-2302158 

Bharalumukh PS: Ph- 2540137, 

2731199 

Borjhar PS: Ph-2840351 

Chandmari PS: Ph- 2660204 

Chandrapur PS: Ph-2788237, 

2785237 

Dispur PS: Ph-2261510 

Fancybazar PS: Ph- 2540285 

International Hospital 

0361-7135005 

Mahendra Mohan Choudhury 

Hospital 

(2541477, 2543998) 

Marwari Hospital & Research 

Centre 

0361-2602738/39 

Marwari Maternity Hospital 

0361-2541202/01 

Nemcare Hospital 

0361-2528587, 2455906, 

2457344 

police station 

Citypedia 

Pratiksha Hospital 

0361-2337260, 

2337183/84 

Basistha Military Hospital 

(2304617/0351) 

Railway Central Hospital 

Casuality (2671025) 

Redcross Hospital 

(2665114) 

Sri Sankardeva Netralaya 

0361-2233444, 2228879, 

2228921 

TB Hospital 

(2540193) 

Wintrobe Hospital 

0361-2519860, 

98647-77986 

GNRC Hospital 0361 

2227702 

GNRC Life First Ambulance 

9401194011 

RADIO TAXI SERVICES 

Prime Cabs 

0361- 2222233 

Green Cabs 

0361-7151515 

My Taxi 

0361-2228888 

Cherry Cabs 

8876222288 

Fatasil Ambari PS: Ph-2471412 

Geetanagar PS: Ph-2417323 

Hatigaon: Ph-2562383 

Jalukbari PS: Ph-2570587 

Jalukbari Out Post: Ph-2570522 

Jorabat: Ph-2896853 

Khanapara: Ph- 2281501 

Khetri PS: Ph-2787699, 2787220 

Latasil PS: Ph-2540136 

Noonmati PS: Ph- 2550281 

North Guwahati PS: Ph-2690255 

Paltanbazar PS: Ph-2540126 

Panbazar PS: Ph-2540106 

Pragjyotishpur Ps: Ph-2785237 

Women PS Panbazar: Ph-2524627

24 

Catching Up 

Robert Short, ran meth lab from retirement home: Cops 

A 64-year-old man in Fresno, California, has been arrested for allegedly 

running a meth lab out of a retirement home. Fresno Police made 

the discovery Saturday after pulling over Robert Short, who was on 

parole on charges connected to selling methamphetamine. When 

officers checked his car, they say they found four ounces of 

crystal meth, along with small plastic bags and electronic scales. 

Officers then searched the suspect’s home in a retirement village 

and found more meth, heroin and a small meth lab. All in all, 

the officers recovered a half pound of crystal meth with an estimated 

street value of $1,700, according to the Fresno Bee. Short’s 

neighbors were shocked to find out they may have been living next 

door to a real-life episode of “Breaking Bad.” 

Emmanuelle Chriqui 

Florida man who doused his wife in Gasoline and 

threatened to light her on fire was just joking 

WHO’S SHE 

Emmanuelle Sophie Anne 

Chriqui is a Canadian film and 

television actress. She is best 

known for her performance 

on HBO’s Entourage as Sloan 

McQuewick, as well as Dalia, 

the love interest of Adam 

Sandler’s character in You 

Don’t Mess with the Zohan. 

SO WHAT 

Chriqui was nominated for a 

Best Actress DVD Exclusive 

Award for her performance in 

100 Girls and was nominated, 

with Lance Bass, for a Choice 

Liplock Teen Choice Award in 

On the Line. In May 2010, she 

topped the AskMen.com Most 

Desirable Women of 2010 list. 

Now what 

Born in Montreal and raised 

in Toronto by her Moroccan 

parents, Emmanuelle Chriqui 

has been in LA for the past 

15 years and is taking the 

film and TV world by storm. 

Currently, she is busy with her 

upcoming projects, including 

the Entourage movie. 

A man told police he was only joking when he tried to ignite gasoline that he had 

“accidentally” spilled on his wife and her bed. Khemraj Samlall, 43, was charged with 

aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. In court Monday before 

Broward Judge John “Jay” Hurley, Samlall’s wife cried and defended him as “a great guy” 

and good husband and father. ”The court has no doubt that if that lighter would have 

sparked, you wouldn’t be here right now,” Hurley told her. Samlall and his wife argued 

early morning when he came home drunk after a night out with friends. 

Cobie Smulders 

WHO’S SHE 

Jacoba Francisca Maria 

“Cobie” Smulders is a 

Canadian actress and former 

model, known for her roles 

as Robin Scherbatsky on the 

television series How I Met 

Your Mother and Maria Hill 

in the Marvel Cinematic 

Universe. 

SO WHAT 

After she quit modeling, she 

registered at the University 

of Victoria to study marine 

biology. During the summer, 

she took acting classes and 

began pursuing her acting 

career. Smulders’ first acting 

role was as a guest in the 

Showtime science fiction 

series Jeremiah, and she has 

appeared in several television 

series since, including a 

recurring role in The L Word. 

Now what 

Smulders played Maria 

Hill in Joss Whedon’s 2012 

film The Avengers. She 

reprised the role in the 2013 

premiere of the television 

series Marvel’s Agents of 

S.H.I.E.L.D. and again in 

2014’s Captain America: The 

Winter Soldier and has been 

announced to do so again 

in Avengers: Age of Ultron 

in 2015. 

Fish-eating spiders 

discovered across the world 

G PLUS JUN 21 - JUN 27, 2014 

Headlining acts! 

A number of spiders who catch and eat fish have 

been discovered across the world by scientists. 

A study has found that while they typically prey 

on insects, some larger species of spiders will 

supplement their diet with small fish that are 

sometimes twice their size. Martin Nyffeler from 

the University of Basel, Switzerland and Bradley 

Pusey from the University of Western Australia 

gathered data showing spiders from as many 

as five families predating on small fish in the 

wild. Three other families contained semi-aquatic species that also caught fish under 

laboratory conditions. Their review of evidence found the semi-aquatic families usually 

dwell at the fringes of shallow freshwater streams, ponds or swamps and some are 

capable of swimming, diving and walking on the water surface. 

pick of the week 

The poverty-stricken son of a sex worker is going from 

red light to Red Devil - after being offered a dream trial 

with Manchester United. Rajib Roy, 16, will be flying to 

the UK on April 25 to train with the Premier League side’s 

academy team, after impressing scouts. The teenager has 

endured a tough childhood - even by India’s standards - 

growing up in a brothel in Kolkata’s notorious Sonagachi 

neighbourhood. 

What did I just hear? 

Narendra Modi’s government has ordered its 

officials to use Hindi on social media accounts 

and in government letters. Since taking office as 

India’s Prime Minister last month, Hindu nationalist 

Narendra Modi has taken a clear stand 

in support of Hindi, pushing for it to replace 

English as the preferred language of the capital’s 

urbane and golf-playing bureaucrats. 

Kamur of the week 

It was 11.30 PM and the rain was coming in hard. Stuck at office, we 

needed a ride back home and so we decided to call up one of the numerous 

Radio Taxi services that have sprung up in the city recently. But, 

to our utter dismay, we found out that none of the numbers were being 

answered. The calls were perpetually put on hold and there was no 

response. Ultimately we had to call up friends and requested 

them to drop us. So what kind of services are these cab 

services running actually? We would love an answer! 

Printed & Published by Sunit Jain on behalf of Insight Brandcom Pvt. Ltd. and Printed at Arkashish Publications (P) Ltd., Katahbari, Garchuk, Guwahati and Published at H/No. 34, K. C. Choudhury Road, Chatribari, Guwahati - 781008, Editor: Koushik Hazarika. 

Phone: 0361 2737737, Email: info@g-plus.in, RNI No: ASSENG/2013/52641

G Plus Volume1 Issue 38

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