Students of St John’s Diocesan Girls School perform a special song at the thanksgiving service for Rev. P.C. Mathew at St Paul’s Cathedral on September 16. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

New course scores

City students can now earn and gather first-hand information about industries with Pragati, a programme launched recently by accounting software major Tally (India) Private Limited. The company is tying up with universities and colleges to bring to students a 90-hour course in Tally, the financial accounting software at a fee of Rs 5,400.

“A tie-up with Shri Shikshayatan College is already in place. Classes started two months ago,” said Anupam Jogani, regional head, eastern zone, Tally. In the last phase of the course, students would be required to demonstrate the company’s latest version, Tally 9, before entrepreneurs who are prospective clients.

“The students will be able to interact with top businessmen. The best of the lot could easily get offers from these business houses,” said Shoaib Ahmed, vice-president, sales (South Asia), Tally.

There will be incentives, certificates and cash awards for those who excel and one could even earn up to Rs 50,000 before the completion of the course, added Ahmed.

According to internal figures of the company, 90 per cent of all computerised businesses in India across all segments use Tally in one form or the other. “There is constant demand for manpower trained in Tally. Pragati aims at providing businesses with a large number of trained personnel and to simultaneously provide jobs,” said Jogani.

Student and businesses alike could find the “concurrent multilingual capability” of Tally 9 interesting. Jogani explained that this feature allows one to enter data in one language, view the accounts in another and take a printout in a third language. “This feature breaks the language barrier. A Delhi-based businessman trading with one in Kerala can enter his data in Hindi, view it in English and send it to his counterpart in Malayalam,” he said.

Rith Basu

Revelry time

September 14 was a day of celebration for the inmates of Serampore Child Guidance Centre. They had organised their 18th annual function at Rabindra Bhavan, Serampore. More than 100 students participated in the event that kicked off with a nazrul geeti. Children also danced to the tunes of Putul nebe go (picture left), a Bengali adhunik song by Shyamal Mitra.

The child guidance centre that started way back in 1990 by Aruna Devi is a day school for special children. The school started with three children. The number has now risen to 154. “Two children from our school have also passed Madhyamik examination in the past years,” said one of the teachers.

The institute is run by aid from the central government. The students also run a canteen, which is open to outsiders.

Anindya Shankar Ray

Forgotten world

Remember Iris, the 2001 film based on the life of Irish novelist Iris Murdoch? We watch the mental degeneration of the septuagenarian novelist as she struggles to write a word. In another incident, she forgets her address and goes missing. Once a good swimmer, Iris, played by Judi Dench in the older years, even forgets how to swim.

Iris Murdoch was afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease in her advanced years.

Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive, degenerative brain disease, with no certain cause or cure. The disease is named after German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906.

Although the majority of its those who suffer from it are above the age of 60, it is known to have affected people as young as 40. The latest count suggests that about 3.25 million in India are affected by the disease that is set to become a virtual epidemic in a few decades.

The common symptoms are forgetting things that the patient has done a few minutes back, not recognising people, forgetting what one wanted to say and finding it difficult to carry out tasks (for instance, he may lose track of the steps involved in making a telephone call). A patient also forgets simple words and uses inappropriate ones, making his speech difficult to interpret, has a disorientation about place and time (getting lost in his own neighbourhood, forgetting the day of the week and so on), makes inappropriate decisions (such as wearing several layers of warm clothes on a hot summer day), shows changes in personality with sudden mood-swings.

The patients may also develop urinary and bowel inconsistency. The disease is a hardship not only for its sufferers, but also for family and friends.

As yet, there is no cure for it. But much can be done to help those suffering from it. If the warning signs can be detected during the early stages, and a correct diagnosis made, arrangements can be made to improve the life of the patient.

These patients should be respected as members of society. One must also be patient with their impatience and incessant questioning.

In order to combat the impending epidemic, we must spread awareness. Scientists claim that they are drawing closer towards inventing a successful vaccine. But incidence of the disease are on the rise. We should reinforce and educate our society in such a way that it accepts and helps Alzheimer’s victims so that they can deal with the changes that take over life, better.

(September 21 is Alzheimer’s Day. It will be 101 years since the discovery of the disease)

Kalyan Tripathy
Calcutta International School
(The student works as a volunteer for the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India, Calcutta Chapter)