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TOI : PUNE: Sandeep Atpalkar was soaking in the fun in his boat at the Rajiv Gandhi zoological park’s lake at Katraj on Saturday afternoon when a shiver ran down his spine. For, on the banks at the far end of the lake was a crocodile lolling in the sun, then diving into the water and resurfacing again.

Atpalkar, along with his friend Yogesh Kanole and their families, was mong the many visitors to the popular boating facility at the lake at the weekend. As many as 15,000 people visit the park on Saturdays and Sundays, and many of them enjoy the boat rides Alarmed after spotting the reptile, Atpalkar and Kanole sounded out the staff of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), which operates the boating service, and also showed them pictures of the crocodile clicked on their digital camera. On Sunday, Atpalkar also contacted PMC’s chief garden superintendent Yashwant Khaire. Strangely, however, the boating service was operating on Sunday too, with no attempt having been made to trap the crocodile.

Speaking to TOI, Khaire said the zoo authorities would visit the lake on Monday morning to decide about the future course of action. He could not surmise where the crocodile had come from, saying the lake had a big catchment area around it. He also asserted that the possibility of the crocodile attacking anyone was “very less”.

When contacted, Neelimkumar Khaire, director of the ‘animal orphanage’ of the zoological park, said that he too had received reports about the crocodile in the lake. “On Monday morning, we will visit the lake. The reptile will definitely surface to bask in the sun as it is quite cold in the mornings,” he added.

Khaire said this was the first time he had heard about a crocodile at the lake. He wondered why the fishermen at the lake had not reported the sighting of…More

TOI : PUNE: Reopening of colleges for the winter term holds the promise of an exciting time ahead for students, for it’s that time of the year when the schedule is choc-o-bloc with inter-collegiate festivals and in-house departmental activities. Enough opportunity for everyone to showcase their talent, be it musical, oratory or dramatic.

Alpana Mallick, a third year BBA student at the Symbiosis Center for Management Studies enthuses, “The second term is the nicest time of the year. Most students have settled in by then, and the plethora of both intra and inter college fests, make for some honest-to-goodness bonding.”

The high-points of the term will be the intra-collegiate fest ‘Ananya’, and the inter-collegiate management fest ‘Symulate’.

‘Ananya’ is a boisterous affair spread over three-four days and consists of a host of competitions – from the food fest to ‘the battle of the bands’ to mad ads, tattoo making to face painting. “Adding to the fun is the dress code for the day, which in keeping with the mood of the events scheduled for that day,” says Mallick. Symulate, on the other hand, is a more serious proposition, complete with an academic summit, featuring leading speakers from the world of management.
At Nowrosjee Wadia College, std XI student Sayali Kulkarni says that ‘Nirmiti’, the in-house arts circle, has already started practicing for a fusion dance number. “We have a music team, a dance team, a theater group and so on. For starters, there’s the IIT-B hosted ‘Mood-I’ fest which takes place between Dec 20 and 23. It’s one of the best-attended youth festivals, and we want to put our best foot forward. Then there’s the prestigious inter-college drama competition ‘Firodiya Karandak’, which is due in January. We have started writing scripts and will choose the best for,” says Kulkarni.

The Wadia college also hosts the Gokhale Cup – one of the best-known…More

TOI : PUNE: An attempt to steal a 40-kg locker from the office of a co-operative credit society on BT Kawde road in Ghorpadi on Saturday night was foiled by the timely action of an alert resident Staying just above the office.

Four burglars had somehow managed to bring the locker outside the credit society’s office. But, they had to leave it on the road and flee as resident Krishna Shelar raised an alarm.

According to Maskuji Kawde (53), chairman of Shri Ganesh Co-operative credit society, “On Saturday night around 3 am my nephew Dinesh Kawde called me on mobile and told about the attempt of the theft at our office. When I reached the office, I found the locker lying on the road. I was told that around 2.30 am four people entered the office by breaking the locks of the shutter. Shelar who is staying above the office woke-up after hearing the noise.”

“Shelar immediately alerted Dinesh on mobile and raised an alarm. The suspects, meanwhile, had managed to bring the locker outside the office. They were trying to put it in an autorickshaw but, after hearing the noise, they left it on the road and fled in the rickshaw,” Kawade said.
He added that “the locker was empty but it was worth Rs 10,000.”

Sub-inspector Dattatreya Surwase of Hadapsar police station said, “There were four burglars. We have some clues and the investigation is on.”

Meanwhile, in another attempt, some unidentified people made several futile attempts to break open the locker of the airforce canteen at Vimannagar on Saturday. According to a complaint lodged by canteen manager Raghav Sangramsingh, some people entered the canteen by breaking the locks of the door and tried to open locker, which had Rs 2 lakh cash. B…More

TOI : PUNE: Close to 17,000 students appeared for the Indian Institutes of Management’s (IIMs) Common Admission Test (CAT), which was held simultaneously at 28 exam centres in the city.

The candidates included those from outside the city who preferred Pune over 22 other cities where the test was conducted simultaneously. The number of students appeared for IIM-CAT from Pune previous year was 14,500.

The CAT is known to spring surprises each year. This year too, it was no different as the total number of questions went up to 90 from 75 last year. But the B-school aspirants had nothing much to complain about. They found the paper “easier, compared to what CAT 2007 had offered”.

In the past few years, the number of questions in the examination had gone down from 123 in 2004 to 90 in 2005 and 75 in 2006 and 2007. At the same time, the difficulty level had gone up. The paper this year was expected to maintain a higher difficulty level.

The striking change that candidates had to tell about the paper was the increased weightage (40 questions) to the verbal ability (VA) section that tests the language proficiency of the examinee. Students found this section relatively lengthy, compared to the quantitative ability (QA) and the data interpretation (DI) sections, which carried 25 questions each.

Speaking to TOI, moments after writing the paper, Anjali Vartak, an IT professional, said, “Overall the paper was pretty good. It was better than the past two years with a slight change in pattern. The questions on QA were little tough but the other two sections, VA and DI, were pretty managable.”

Navraj Rawat, who recently completed his post-graduation said, “We were hoping that there won’t be any major change in the paper pattern and the total questions will be restricted to 75 as was the case last…More

TOI : PUNE: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has opposed the standing committee’s decision to hike the monthly honorarium of corporators to Rs 10,000 in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

The eight corporators from the party have, in fact, decided to use the existing honorarium of Rs 4,000 for civic schools and hospitals.

Speaking to TOI, Ravindra Dhangekar, MNS leader in the PMC, said, “The civic body is facing a financial crisis and the hike proposal is ridiculous. We will oppose it when it comes up before the general body.”

“Also, all our eight corporators and a member in the civic school board will utilise the existing honorarium of Rs 4,000 for municipal schools and hospitals,” he added. B…More