#created the INPUT = New CGI; on previous lines

    use CGI::Session;
    my $session = new CGI::Session("driver:MySQL", undef, { 
        Handle => $dbh,
        DataSource => "DBI:mysql:contrarian:host=my_server",
	    User => "srjiii",
	    Password => $df_pass });

       $session->param("member_name", $username);


    my $cookie = $INPUT->cookie(-name=>'SESSION_Name',
                                -value=>$session->id,
                                -expires=>"+1d");
    print $INPUT->header(-cookie=>$cookie);