  Anomalous temperature dependence of heat capacity of glassy systems during a
cooling-heating cycle has remained an ill-understood problem for a long time.
Most of the features observed in the experimental measurement of the heat
capacity of a supercooled liquid are shown here to be adequately explained by a
general model. The model that we propose is motivated by the success of
landscape paradigm, and describes \beta relaxation in terms of a collection of
two-level systems and conceives \alpha relaxation as a \beta relaxation
mediated cooperative transition in a double-well. The anomalous sharp rise in
the heat capacity observed during heating is shown to have a kinetic origin,
being caused by delayed energy relaxation due to nonequilibrium effects.
