AIDS awareness
Fighting the AIDS virus in the city were the Lions Club of Poona Deccan Gymkhana, Pune Elite and Leo Club of Poona Deccan Gymkhana on October 7 as they used the best weapon possible - information - to help increase awareness. They distributed 4,000 handbills on AIDS awareness on Laxmi Road, Balgandharva Chowk and at Dhanukar Colony, Kothrud. The bills being in Marathi helped go to the grass-roots.

Hope for cancer patients
The new office of Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) at Uttam Towers, Nagar Road was inaugurated by Balaji Rao of Venkateshwara Hatcheries on Wednesday, September 30. The new premises will house a cancer detection centre with free check-up at regular intervals. People have been requested to take the benefit of the facilities. CPAA Pune has been serving patients afflicted with cancer since 1994.

Diwali magazine released
Pandurang Shastri Athavle of the Swadhyay Parivar and Rishi Prabhakar of the SSY Parivar released a Diwali magazine at a function held by the Chanakya Mandal on Monday, October 5, at the New English School grounds, Ramanbaug. Titled Tumhi Amhi Aapan Saglech, this fortnightly Marathi magazine includes articles on `India in the 21st century, from the viewpoint of the younger generation' based on the experiences of 40 students who travelled to nine Indian states. Interviews of L K Advani, KPS Gill, Mamta Banerjee are also featured in this issue.

Bank staffer awarded
Padmashri Joshi, on staff with the Central Bank of India's zonal office, Pune, has been awarded the Calcutta Bank's Association prize and the P C Bhattacharya Memorial prize for securing the highest marks in the subject of Monetary Theory and Practice at the Associate Examination of the Indian Institute of Bankers. Padmashri is presently doing her MBA (Finance) from YCMOU.

Peace not war
The staff, students, campus supervisors and communities of Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Ramwadi celebrated JDV Day on September 28. The purpose of JDV Dau is to celebrate the diversity and richness of the JDV community, the theme being `Peace not War'. The celebrations started at 8.30 am with the Syro Malabar Rite Holy Qurbana in English and Hindi which was held in Papal Seminary Chapel.

This was followed by a talk by former Mayor Vandana Chavan and a question-answer session on the topic `The City of Pune: Challenges in the next millennium'. The evening saw a variety entertainment programme. The chief guest for the programme was Rev Fr Felix Mendes, vicar general of Pune Diocese.