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The Telegraph reported on Tuesday (September 17, 2013) that one reputable girls’ college in the city is planning to issue a diktat banning students from wearing jeans and sleeveless clothes to campus. It (Magadh Mahila College) would be the second higher education institution in the city to do so.
It is unfortunate that educational institutions feel the necessity to regulate the attire of adult students in this day and age.
According to the report, the college feels that if a student wears jeans it seems she is going to have fun and not to study. Similarly, it is apparently essential for students to dress “decently” to keep eve-teasers at bay.
Like many youths from Bihar, I was a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi where students are allowed to wear whatever they like. Also, it is unfortunate that women are asked to dress “decently” while men who indulge in teasing are not asked to behave decently.
Who, after all, decides on what is decent and what is not decent?
I would like to request the administration of colleges and other institutions to provide infrastructure for students to study better.
Ramesh Kishore
Kankerbagh
The traffic situation in the city seems to be getting worse everyday. I am a resident of Patliputra and go to Dakbungalow roundabout daily for work. I usually take the Boring Canal Road and Boring Road, and am stuck in snarls for hours.
As The Telegraph reported on Tuesday (September 17, 2013), the main reason for the problem that has become more acute in the past few weeks is the lackadaisical approach of the police constables on duty at the different traffic intersections.
The report in your newspaper stated that the constables often abandon their post because of the heat. While I do empathise with them, I also feel that the authorities should provide them with kiosks and umbrellas so that they can perform their duties in all seasons.
Anita Tripathi
Patliputra
The Pitripaksh has started on September 19 and ends on October 4. In Hinduism, tarpan and shradh are performed on all amavasi or new moon days. But the most important period to perform shradh is the Pitripaksha period during the Krishnapaksh fortnight in Ashwin.
The word shradh is derived from the Sanskrit word shradha meaning respect and faith. Indian linguists imagined a lunar month with two fortnights as two wings of a bird. Agni, Garud, Matsya and Vayu — all these Puranas also explain the procedure of shradh ceremonies in detail.
Shradh and funeral rites are different as the latter (antyeshti) is inauspicious but the former is auspicious. The antyeshti, carried out for 12 days after death, is to provide peace to the restless soul, pretatma. Hindus believe that this ritual also helps the restless soul to get an intermediate body, between the linga and sthula sharira. This intermediary body helps the soul to proceed to his journey to Pitriloka. Ancestors shower blessings of prosperity, wealth, and happiness on the performer. Shradh and tarpan show gratefulness of a person to his ancestors. Not performing it is considered an ungrateful act.
Anil K. Saxena
SBI branch manager (retired), Gaya
