Society Scenes

Well-designedThe Osho International's new publishing headquarters, New York has been awarded the prestigious design award offered by the Ame...

Well-designed
The Osho International8217;s new publishing headquarters, New York has been awarded the prestigious design award offered by the American Institute of Architecture AIA in conjunction with Business Week and Architectural Record magazine. The awards are given to companies that work closely with architects for designs that help improve business performances and also make a qualitative statement about the kind of work they do. Their design emphasises on clear open spaces and minimal furnishing. The AIA will honour the winners at a luncheon to be held in New York on November 6.

Calling Keralites
Pune Malayalee Federation PMF and Keraleeya Samajam Sangvi KSS jointly held a meeting on October 25 to discuss the various problems faced by around four lakh Malayalees residing in various parts of Pune.

The president of the PMF, Shamsuddin, highlighted the main objectives of forming the PMF and raised the main issue of the coastal railway that most of the Kerala bound trains have been diverted through Konkan railway which causes inconvenience to the Pune Malayalees. The president of PMF urged the necessity of bringing all the Keralites united under the banner of PMF. To strengthen the hold of chain, around 24 sanghatanas of Malayalees from various parts of Pune will hold a cultural and Kerala food festival in November at B J Medical College ground.

Free medical advice
A team of doctors and specialists regularly visit the Holy Mission Charitable clinic at Padamjee compound at Bhawani Peth from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 2 pm. They will be providing free advice on various medical problems. Patients will also be given medicines at concessional rates. Other diagnostic facilities such as X-ray, sonography and blood tests are also undertaken at concessional rates. Spectacles are also dispensed at very low rates. To mark Diwali celebrations, they will giving free physiotherapy, diathermy and ECG from October 26 to November 26 to every patient on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Towards a clean Pune
The National Society For Clean Cities NSCC has been campaigning for a clean Pune for the past 21 years. This year the NSCC in association with the Rotary Club of Pune Central has embarked on a series of ambitious projects as a method of bringing this awareness to school children. As a part of their activities they have launched a slogan contest for the school kids as they go from school to school and ask the kids to participate in the contest along with visuals or an illustration. Children between the age group of 10 to 15 years from over 50 schools in Pune will participate. The topics include air, noise, water and air pollution, spitting, garbage separation, recycling and disposal, tree planting, greening and deforestation.

Several suggestions have been made by the NSCC panel to involve the police personnel and their families to be more involved in community affairs to nurture a more pleasant living environment.

Discourses held
On the occasion of anniversary of the Samarth Vyaspith, Pune, discourses by Acharya Kishorji Vyas were held from October 23 to 29 at the Abasaheb Garware College. On the occasion of the anniversary, an annual Samarth Sandesh was released at the hands of Kishorji Vyas. Annabhau Kalgaonkar and V J Kher were honoured with the Sant Dyaneshwar award on October 25. Vedmurti Pandit Shrikrishna Bhatt of Nasik was felicitated with the Maharishi Vedvyas award, along with a cash prize of Rs 31,000, a memento and Mahawastra. Sunil Chincholkar was felicitated with the Shivsamarth award along with a cash prize of Rs 11,000 and a memento.

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Devotees at Parvati
Recitation of Kartikeya Sahasranamam by Lakshamanam, Abhishekam, Alankaram and Deeparadhana to Lord Kartikeya marked the Skanda Shashti festival which was organised by the Shree Shanmukhanda Sabha atop the Parvati hill on October 26. Mahaprasadam was offered to the devotees who attended in sizable numbers. P V N Krishnan, president, S Bhageerathan, secretary and K N Venkataraman and a team of selfless social workers coordinated the festival. The sabha will celebrate Thaipusam and Panguni uthiram on January 31 and March 31, 1999 respectively.

Convocation held
The second convocation of the Deccan College was held on October 27. Professor V N Misra, director of the institute, awarded degrees to 30 students who passed their MA/ MPhil examination conducted in May 1997. Not only were the students from several parts of India, but some were even from foreign countries like Thailand, Kampuchea, Jordan, Palestine, Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan. MA degrees were also awarded to 13 students in archaeology and to 12 students in linguistics. MPhil degrees were awarded to five students in archaeology.

The H D Sankalia Gold Medal was won by Ritu Mehrotra for standing first in the order of merit at the MA examination in archaeology. Professor V I Subramaniam, honorary director of the International School of Linguistics in Thituvanthapuram and pro-chancellor of the Dravidian University at Koppam in Andhra Pradesh delivered the convocation address.

Swamiji remembered
The first punyatithi of Swami Shri 1008 Satyapramod Teertha Shreepadgalu of Shrimal Uttardi Math was observed on October 23 at Sanskritik Bhavan in Pradhikaran. The programme, arranged by Raghavendra Swami Seva Sangh, Pimpri-Chinchwad, included chanting of Vishnu Shasranam, Shree Sookta, Vayu Stuti and Dhyana Sloka of the Swamiji 108 times. The function concluded with the serving of the teertha and imahaprasad to about 200 devotees.