package myTest::Index;

use strict;
use DBI;
use base 'CGI::Application';
use CGI::Application::Session;
use Data::Dumper;

....
.... 
sub home {  #  $self->start_mode('home');
        my $self = shift;
        my $tmpl = $self->load_tmpl('index.tmpl');
        my $session = $self->session;
        my $data = $session->param_hashref();
        use myTest::module1;
        my $moduleRef = new myTest::module1;
        $moduleRef->add_item();  # session changes in myTest::module1 here are not reflected in
                                 # main session
        $session->param("key1","value1");  # Works as expected
        $tmpl->param(DATA => Dumper($data));

        return $tmpl->output;
}