Monthly Archives: January 2015

Now, get your photo on postal stamp

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Allahabad :

The Department of Post is all set to allow people to have their photograph on postage stamp meant for official use. This facility will be available at the upcoming two-day Allahabad Philatelic Exhibition (Allaphilex-2015) starting this Friday.

People keen to use the ‘My Stamp’ will have to fill a form and submit it which his/her photograph along with Rs 300. The department will scan the photograph and prepare a postal stamp of Rs 5 denomination. The department will also offer ‘spot clicking’ facility. Later, the applicant would be provided with a sheet containing 12 photographed postal stamps

These stamps could be used to send mail anywhere in the country. However, the facility will be available for living persons only.

Allahabad region’s postal service director Krishna Kumar Yadav said, “Postal department will organize the exhibition at the Art Gallery of North Central Zone Cultural Centre where this facility will be made available.” He further said that this facility is already available in four cities of the state — Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi and Fatehpur Sikri.

He said a number of valuable stamps from around the world will also be displayed in the exhibition. City-based philatelists and those from across the country would showcase their collection of postage stamps and other philatelic materials.

Yadav said that people would also get acquainted with the story behind various stamps. Further youth would be encouraged to develop interest in philately.

During the exhibition philatelic workshops, letter writing, stamp design and quiz competitions would be organized to attract youth and schoolchildren.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / TNN /January 08th, 2015

Surgery for epilepsy now available in city

Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

A team of doctors at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences has undertaken surgery to help a patient get rid of epilepsy. So far, epileptic surgery has been limited to only a few centers in the country including Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvanthanapuram, and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru.

Secretary of Indian Epilepsy Association’s UP chapter, Prof Atul Aggarwal said that surgical intervention for management of epilepsy in patients who have not responded to medication is an upcoming area of neurology in India. “Only a few centers in the country attempted this because it involves high-level of coordination between neurologist, neurosurgeon, radiologist, anesthetist and psychologist. A facility in Lucknow will surely help patients in the state,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the team, neurosurgeon Dr Arun Srivastava said, “The surgery was undertaken on a 25-year-old girl who came to us with complaints of partial seizures that could not be controlled by four epilepsy-control drugs.”

He added that the head of neurology Dr UK Mishra and his team examined the patient and referred her for surgery to Dr Sanjay Behari and team. They in turn roped in neuro-radiologist Dr Shashi Srivstava to study the patient’s brain and identify the epilepsy trigger point.

“The patient benefited significantly from the procedure called selective amygdalohippocampectomy which means removal of the problem-causing portions in areas of the inner brain. At the time of discharge, the number of epileptic episodes reduced to just one from 4-5 per day,” he said.

Doctors in SGPGI also believe that patients heading to their center will have to spend 25-30% less than what they would have to pay at the other centers. Head of neurosurgery department, King George’s Medical University, Prof BK Ojha said that their department too was in the process of developing surgical facilities for epilepsy at their center. “Our doctors are undergoing the required training for this,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailvee Sharda, TNN / January 05th, 2015

Our name and recipe was patented in 1995

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All, Travel

Tunday kababi wins trademark infringement case

The most popular pit stop for all visitors to Lucknow, be it film stars, politicians or even tourists, is the Tunday Kabab shop. But not just for the outsiders, but for the city folk too, it had become increasingly difficult to differentiate the real from the copies, with kebab shops by the name of Tunday mushrooming all over the city in the last few years. But after Mohd Usman, grandson of the legendary Tunday or Haji Murad Ali won a case filed against him for infringement of trademark by his khala’s (paternal aunt) son, Mohd Muslim, who owns Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi’s chain of restaurants, all shops bearing the name Tunday and not belonging to Usman had to take their signs down on Monday . They will now have to change the names of their outlets.

Muslim claimed that the name ‘Tunday’ belonged to him and his family and they were the rightful owners of it and anyone else using the name was doing so illegally . But in December 2014, the Delhi High Court declared Usman the rightful owner of the name ‘Tunday’.

The lineage

Haji Murad Ali, a one-handed royal khansama from Bhopal made the Galwati kababs and paranthas world famous and several shops in his name had sprung up in Lucknow and outside of it. Mohd Usman, who holds the patent of Tunday , is Murad’s brother’s son, as Ali himself had no children.

“It was our grandfather who started Tunday . Although I don’t remember much of him but my father tells us tales of how he used to work with one hand. The 109-year-old legacy of our grandfather was being misused and maligned. We had to put a stop to that. Allah has bestowed his blessings on us as we have won the case.It’s nothing else but the blessings of our dada jaan,” says Usman.

The patent and the problem

“We had got the name’Tunday’ patented in 1995, so no one could use the name without our permission or without our franchise. We had also got the secret recipe patented a decade back,” he says, adding, “Mere dada jaan ne, unke baad mere walid saab ne itni mehnat se yeh naam aur iski shaan banayi thi. Hamari origi nal dukaan Chowk mein Akbari Gate ke paas hai, aur 1996 main humne Aminabad wali dukaan shuru ki.”

Not happy with the circumstances that led to this lawsuit, Usman says, “It’s not nice when people within the family fight but I was forced to take this step as it was affecting the reputation of my forefathers. People would come up to me and complain about bad quality food being served at these outlets in our name. Ab main kitne logon ko batata ki yeh asli Tunday Kababi nahi hai?” says he. What also irked Usman was that tourists and celebrities were often taken for a ride, and led to the fake Tunday kabab outlets instead of the original ones.”Kitni baar hum akhbaar mein hi padhte thay ki falan-falan celebrity Faizabad Road ya Gomti Nagar gaya.Yeh log toh tourists ko bhi mislead kar rahe thay,” says Usman. He’s right on the mark. In November 2012, celebrity chef Vikas Khanna had promoted a TV show at the Faizabad Road outlet, which had to remove the Tunday signage on Monday .

Apart from Chowk and Aminabad, the other original Tunday outlets are at Kapoorthala, Alambagh, Kanpur Road, Telibagh, Rahim Nagar and Sahara Ganj.

In August 2014, Usman filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court to prevent anyone from using his grandfather’s name. “Those people – my khala’s family, went to court last year and filed a case against us for trademark infringement and demanded a compensation of 50 lakh from us, but now that they have lost the case, we are demanding a compensation of `20 lakh from them for misusing our grandfather’s name and bringing it ill repute,” says Usman, “Now it’s time for them to get worried,” says he with a smile.

Board of contention

The restaurants in Lucknow that had to take down their signboards displaying the name of Tunday are those in Vivek Khand, Gomti Nagar, Sapru Marg, Faizabad Road, Aashiana, apart from the one in Kanpur and in Raebareli.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Itishree Misra, TNN / January 07th, 2015

Magh Mela begins today with Paush Purnima ‘snan’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The 44-day Magh Mela is set to begin today with approximately 25 lakh pilgrims, including scores of kalpwasis, expected to take a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of Yamuna, Ganga and mythological Saraswati, on the occasion of Paush Purnima.

In wake of the expected high turn, the Magh Mela administration and police on Sunday claimed that elaborate arrangements have been put in place for the first holy bath.

Apart from holy dip, donations, charities etc would be the main features of the sacred day. Devotees not only from UP but neighbouring states like MP, Bihar and Jharkhand too have arrived in Sangam City braving the chilly weather conditions. It is believed that all wishes come true on this pious day.

Priests claim “Paush Purnima marks the beginning of a month-long austerity period which is observed during Magha month. Priests further maintained “Purnima thiti began on January 4 at 9:22 am and end on January 5 at 10:23.”

During the entire Magh month, kalpwasis stay on the bank and take early morning bath to earn ‘punya’. The daily bathing starts from Paush Purnima and ends on Magha Purnima. “It is believed that the holy dip on the auspicious day of Paush Purnima liberates the soul from the cycle of birth and death.”

The Mela police and administration have claimed to have put all arrangements in place to ensure basic facilities to pilgrims and devotees arriving for Paush Purnima Snan. Around 3,000 cops, including four companies of para military forces have been assigned the task.

Traffic police would impose restrictions as and when required based on the crowd on the first bathing day. Besides, vehicles’ entry on the mela campus too has been banned.

Meanwhile, officials maintained that over 50,000 kalpwasis would be the main attraction of the day. Separate arrangements have been made for vehicles and pedestrians to prevent chaotic situation on pontoon bridges. Pedestrians would have the first right to walk on pontoon bridges and Sangam area on the bathing day.

Mela authorities also claimed that other facilities in terms of medical & health, transportation, sanitation, bathing ghats, security, fire services, ration distribution, lost & found, potable water, pollution control, milk supply and other civic amenities have been upgraded.

Secondly, elaborate security arrangements have been put in place with adequate police forces, including STF, ATS, bomb defusal squad, anti-sabotage squad patrolling on ghats to ensure safety and security of mela visitors.

Bathing would take place on all 12 ghats with adequate strength of Jal police also being deployed to check cases of drowning. At each and every ghat, barricading has been done and warning boards installed.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Kapil Dixit, TNN / January 04th, 2015