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Football shootball. . . Hai Rabba!
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Grand old man of football
‘Creativity springs from the surroundings’
RCF develops fast coaches for Shatabdi Express
At 22, he’s already a veteran comedian
From the Schools
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Football shootball. . . Hai Rabba!
IF Sansarpur village has been the nursery of hockey, the Phagwara-Mahilpur belt has been the coaching ground of football. It’s often said the game of football comes to young people of this belt as naturally as leaves come to a tree!
This belt has produced more than 25 national and international football players. The number of state-level players who are from this belt could well be in hundreds. Some of these stars are still playing, a few have taken to coaching while others have retired even though they are still actively associated with the game in one or the other way. The three celebrity footballers of Punjab to have so far been bestowed with the prestigious Arjuna Award in football belong to this belt. They include the living legend Inder Singh, Gurdev Singh and late Jarnail Singh. The best- footballer- of- the- decade award winner, Parminder Singh, is the JCT coach now. Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, a senior coach at the JCT, says the football-attraction in this belt could be attributed to the pull of the tradition as well as the ground realities of this belt. “There’s now a well-entrenched tradition of football here,” he adds. The footballers of this area who played for India include Inder Singh, Ashok Kumar, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, Jagir Singh, Parminder Singh (Sr), Parminder Singh(Jr), Hardip Saini, Harjinder Singh(Inder’s son), Ram Pal, Surjit Rurka, Narinder Kumar, G.S. Parmar, Deepak Kumar, Surjit Singh, Kashmira Singh, Gurtek Singh, Amrik Singh, Hardip Gill, Manjit Singh, Sunil Kumar, Manjit Singh. While most of them belong to Phagwara city, others are products of the JCT Limited, Phagwara. No wonder, Phagwara is known by the JCT and the JCT is known by its football team and fabrics. The region has a venerable history of sports clubs, too. The Leader Club, Jalandhar, headed by Lala Dwarka Das Sehgal, was the mother of most of the clubs in the state. Many veteran players of football have been the products of the Leader Club. Some time after the death of Lala Dwarka Das Sehgal, one of the all-time-great promoters of football, the Leader Club closed down in 1976. Meanwhile, the JCT Limited, Phagwara, had constituted its football team in 1971. Most of the players from the Leader Club joined the JCT. The veteran Inder Singh, too, was from this club. The contribution of departmental clubs to Punjab football is significant. However, the JCT is perhaps the only private club in Punjab that has done so much for state football. The JCT football team won the second oldest football tournament in the world — Durand Cup — twice in 1992 and 1996. It won the Federation Cup also twice. It was the first Indian team outside Kolkata to win the IFA shield. The JCT Limited has been managing the Punjab Football Association (PFA) for the last three decades. Its Vice-President-cum-MD, Mr Samir Thapar, is President of the PFA, while Inder Singh is the Honorary Secretary. Mr J.C. Sodhi, Vice-President, PFA, told Jalandar Plus that JCT distributed one thousand footballs every year to district football associations. The JCT coach Parminder Singh and the SAI coach Jagir Singh say that the state has a tremendous potential in football and that the talent needs to be tapped in the best possible manner. The city offers something to budding players, too. Besides the JCT, the International Sports Association, headed by Mr K.K. Sardana, has also been contributing to football in its own way by organising the Phagwara Cup Football Tournament both for the club and the college categories annually. The association has also constructed a stadium at the cost of Rs 6 lakh. Guru Nanak College, Phagwara; GNNB College, Narur Panshta, and Mahilpur College are grooming young footballers. The JCT set up a Football Academy five years back for training the budding players. It funds these players studying in colleges, especially the students from Guru Nanak College, Phagwara. Jagir Singh is the coach at the academy, while Professor Sital Singh is the manager. Perhaps, it would not be wrong to say that the JCT is the Mecca for both budding football players and the experienced players.
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PHAGWARA football and 61-year-old Inder Singh are almost synonymous. This recipient of the Arjuna Award strode the Indian football firmament like a colossus for over two decades. With his speed, stamina and killer instinct, he scripted victory easily. Having joined the Leader Club in 1960 and the JCT in 1974, he played for Punjab from 1962-1978, for India from 1963-1975. He captained the Indian team thrice in 1969, 1973, and 1975. He won the Arjuna Award in 1969.
It was his scoring ability that won him laurels. His shielding of the ball from the immediate marker was marvellous, according to experts. His record of 23 goals in the Santosh Trophy Tournament held in Punjab in 1974 has not been beaten till date. Punjab had defeated Bengal then by 6-0 goals in the final and Inder Singh alone had scored three goals. The Punjab team scored a total of 46 goals in the tournament out of which as many as 23 goals were scored by Inder Singh! He was selected in the Asian All-Stars team in 1967-1968. He was declared the “Best Right out” in Asian Cup held at Tel Aviv in Israel in 1964. India was the runner-up there. He played for the JCT from 1974 to 1985. After his retirement, he was the manager of the JCT team from 1985 to 2001. Since then, he has been the Honorary Secretary of the PFA. Inder Singh played in the Mardeka Football Tournament in Malaysia. Interestingly, the then-Prime-Minister of Malaysia, Mr Tinku Abdul Rehman, became his fan so much so that he offered him a monthly salary of Rs 23,000 in 1967! The PM offered him five years’ contract. But Inder Singh turned down the offer, as he wanted to play for Punjab and India. “Some of my friends then called me a sentimental fool to have rejected the offer,” recalls Inder Singh. Later, the Mohan Bagan club of West Bengal offered him a blank cheque. The Khalsa Sporting Club, Canada, also made a plum offer to him. But he stuck to his roots.
— JSG
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A bit of Tibet in the city
THEIR own land may be far removed from them but they cannot help reminiscing about it. Picturesque surroundings nestling in the lap of nature, it's the land they last saw decades ago. And some have not even seen it.
Tibetans who have come to the city these days to escape the colder and harsher environs of Himachal Pradesh get nostalgic about Tibet. Sixty-six-year-old Norchun says that the Tibetans are trying their best to keep alive their culture. For young Tamding and Thupten, who were born in India, Tibet is not a memory it's just a vision. These young Tibetans may not have seen their homeland, but they know much about their land through the sharing of collective experience. Most of the Tibetans adhere to their traditions, we are told. "We follow our customs, though we may not be fanatic about them. Apron, for one, has a special significance in our society. Married women wear apron that is called chupa to signify their marital status. Similarly, scarves, too, have a symbolic value in our culture. Be it a happy occasion or a sad one, scarves would never be missing," explains Tsedup, who is also associated with the Tibetans' Women Association. Usually in winters, about 20 Tibetan families come to the city to sell woollens. With their colourful wares spread alluringly, these people do business at the same place. They share their joys and sorrows with one another. And they make the best of their time in the city. Of course, it makes some business sense too, as competing with one another would only be counter-productive. The Tibetans are by no means phobic about Westernisation creeping into their community. Yet for all pizzas and pastas, it's their very own tsam pa (something like the Indian sattu) with the Tibetan tea that's a favourite food. After all, it's something that reminds them of their homeland!
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‘Creativity springs from the surroundings’
"Creativity is not about being aloof or unapproachable. The springboard of your creativity may nestle in your very surroundings," he says. His book "Basra Ki Galiyaan", which won him rave reviews, depicts the social milieu to which he was privy during his stay in Iraq. This is his fourth novel in Hindi. He started his creative tryst Interestingly, this writer feels that conveying a message through a book is passé. "You cannot be didactic in your approach. I don't think you should expect readers to change their ideologies after reading your book. At the most, your book may leave some mark on the reader," he explains. So, literature does not serve any purpose? "Literature does have a purpose and a noble one, undoubtedly. Humankind could not have reached its present level of progress had there been no good literature to savour. But if you expect that some kind of bombardment of messages from literature would bring about a change, you are barking the wrong tree," he says, adding that subtlety must pervade the message, if at all there has to be a message. Characters in his books may be introspective but it's not the brooding kind of introspection. The introspection is grounded in social realities and political certainties or uncertainties. And this, according to critics, gives his fiction a unique charm. For Dr Sharma, it may not exactly be an easy relationship with his profession, but he is not averse to writing some unpalatable truths about journalism as practised in certain quarters. "My book 'Akaash Ka Sach' deals with yellow journalism — how it sucks a person into its vortex." Unlike many other writers who often complain about the onslaught of visual media, this novelist vouches for the sanctity of the written word. "Images from television are fleeting. They may tantalise you, but they can never capture your complete attention. It's the written word that retains its glory for ages," he says. "In the beginning, there was Word, and Word shall never cease to be. Shabad Rahega Saakshi," adds Dr Sharma.
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Music is divine, says tabla maestro Lakshman Singh
HE'S a man who belongs to the old-world-order. He has seen the changing times and he has experienced the changes. He has adapted to the changes and he has stuck to his principles. Lakshman Singh, city's grand old man of tabla, still swears by music that is akin to spirituality for him.
"Those times were different. Learning music was frowned upon. My own father was dead against my musical inclination. He chided me for being a vagabond (that was the most befitting term those days for an artiste!). But I had set my heart on being a musician. We stayed at Sialkot. I went off to Jammu to learn music. Later, I came back to Lahore," he says. Unlike the crass commercialisation of art and artistes these days, music was a guru-shishya parampara then. "My guru, Mian Kadar Bakhsh, added his own quarter of a rupee to my nazar ( which may be loosely translated as tuition fee). The guru expected total devotion and he, in turn, taught you without holding back anything." Lakshman Singh came to Jalandhar decades ago when the city still retained its green patches in abundance. He remembers wild overgrowth in areas that are now posh localities. He also remembers how Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan used to have scores of tabla players vying with singers in a sort of undeclared competition. So immersed is this man's soul in music that his children's names have either a musical or a spiritual touch to them. His daughters Gandharva Bala and Surbala and his sons Manu Seen, Kinner, Nayak and Raghav are all musicians or music teachers in their own right. He has been their first and the most exacting guru. Many of his pupils, too, have made a mark for themselves. Among them is Talvin Singh, whose improvisations on tabla have earned him fame. "The basics of tabla remain the same. You cannot forgo the basics even if your forte is improvisation," says Lakshman Singh, who is a traditional-tabla exponent. Well into his seventies, he still (when his health permits) teaches tabla to youngsters. The old guru-shishya parampara still holds a special place in his heart and he still believes in music as a manifestation of the Supreme Being. He cannot identify with the schism between music and spirituality. The purpose of music is to bring you nearer to the Ultimate Reality. Rest is all froth that can at the most skim on the surface, he says. "Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest the divinity within," he signs off, quoting Swami Vivekananda, whose portrait adorns his room.
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RCF develops fast coaches for Shatabdi Express
AFTER having manufactured high-speed coaches for four rakes of Rajdhani Express shuttling between New Delhi and Mumbai, the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) has now successfully accomplished a challenging task of designing coaches for Shatabdi Express proposed to run between New Delhi and Bhopal from mid-January onwards.
The new coaches would be based on German Alstom LHB technology. Bogies of the coaches are being made using Fiat-Switzerland design with key improvements influencing passenger comfort and safety. Made of stainless steel, the coaches would be highly-resistant to corrosion. They would require a minimal cost of maintenance. The coaches would run at a speed of 140 km per hour, though they can go up to 180 km per hour or even 200 km per hour, albeit with some minor modifications. While parts of an ordinary train have to be checked after every 1000 km, the new train is being built with so much accuracy that it may run unchecked for a distance of nearly 10,000 km. The proposed Shatabdi rake would consist of eight coaches, each connected with centre buffer coupler, instead of the conventional screw coupler, to ensure more hauling power and prevention of climbing of coaches during collision. The executive AC chair car would have the capacity of 54 seats per coach, while the coach of ordinary AC chair car would be 78-seater, each seat with independent reading lights. The new coaches would be designed in such a way that they have bigger-size sealed windows for a panoramic view and heat insulation. The air conditioning units would be closed, roof-mounted type eliminating the incidence of water dripping into the coach. The toilets would be controlled-discharge type to avoid soiling of station premises. While an average cost of manufacturing an ordinary coach is Rs 35 lakh, it comes out to be Rs 85 lakh for first AC and Rs 73 lakh for third AC. But the new rake is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore per coach. However, it is believed that the cost of production is quite low in India as a few similar coaches had earlier been imported from Germany at a purchase price of Rs 4.8 crore and a landing cost of Rs 2.6 crore. Mr M.Sirajuddin, General Manager, RCF, said that the coaches of the new train would be longer yet lighter, maintenance-friendly and aesthetic in appearance. It would also bear effective vibration shockers for more comfort of passengers, he said. He added that the new rake had already been railed out to the Railways Department. He, however, said that it would be up to the Railway Board to decide as to when and on which route the train would be run.
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People’s concern Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
ROTTEN vegetables and peels of fruits lie all around in the slushy area. All kinds of stray animals, including dogs, cows and buffaloes, feed on the rotten remains. Mosquitoes and flies swarm around in the area.
This is not a scene of a garbage dump in the city. This is, in fact, the Maqsoodan sabzi mandi - a place where residents from all corners of the city come to get fresh vegetables and fruits so as to remain healthy and enjoy a nutritive diet! The sabzi mandi presents a picture of neglect, as the authorities concerned seem to have turned a blind eye to it. Even as one enters the sabzi mandi, there are around 25 to 30 vegetable vendors selling vegetables under a temporary shade. The stench of the slushy area that lies just behind their makeshift shops makes it unbearable for a person to stand there for long. The vendors said that they had told the mandi officers to get the area cleaned but to no avail. The vegetable sellers said, "At times, the area becomes so filthy that our sales start plummeting. There are no sweepers to clean the area for weeks together". Buyers, on the other hand, said that they came to the place as it was their necessity to get vegetables at cheaper rates. Said Mr Om Parkash, a resident of Adarsh Nagar, "The prices of vegetables and fruits here are low as compared to the prices in markets elsewhere. I come to this mandi every Saturday to get the vegetables for the whole week. But it's not easy buying things here. Sometimes, it is unbearably smelly here." Mr Babu Lal, a vegetable seller, said that his house was situated close to his shop and he as well as his family members had to wade through the slushy area at least five times a day to reach his shop. He alleged that many officers, including the District Mandi Officer, "watch" the situation daily, but they do not get the place cleaned. Mr Ram Parsad, a fruit seller, when asked why he did not complain about the filth in the area to higher officers, said that all officers were aware of the facts. "The Mandi Officer sees it daily. The SDM keeps coming to the place often. There are people from the municipal corporation who keep visiting the place. They all know about it." The vegetable buyers, meanwhile, are also perturbed about encroachments made by some hawkers just outside the mandi. "Since the area inside the mandi is dirty, many passersby prefer buying fruits and vegetables from the vendors who have put up makeshift shops outside, even though these vendors sell at higher prices." Mr Bakshi Avtar Singh, District Mandi Officer, could not be contacted for his comments.
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Govt Polytechnic for Women gives technology
TECHNOLOGY sans human touch is dehumanising and education sans technology is obsolete. Perhaps, it was this close association between education and technology, and between technology and personality development that was instrumental in setting up Government Polytechnic for Women (GPW) in the city. Though it has been more than three decades since the college was established, yet it retains its commitment to technology-peppered-with-human-touch approach.
Spread over an area of 13 acres, it is situated about 2 km from bus stand and railway station. The college is equipped with a host of labs and workshops, including computer labs, pharmacy labs, electronic workshop, fitting workshop, welding workshop and carpentry workshop. There is a library and information centre complete with OASIS and LIBSYS — special software designed for information centres. The college offers various diploma courses, including architectural assistantship, electronics and communication engineering, computer engineering, library and information science, modern office practice and pharmacy. Admission to all courses is through the JET after matriculation. However, for pharmacy and office practice courses, only Plus Two students on merit-basis are eligible. But it's not just the vocational courses that set this college apart from other colleges. It's the emphasis on the latest technology as applicable in the Indian scenario that makes this institution one of the creditable institutions in the city. In sports, too, the students of this college have excelled consistently. According to the college authorities, the students have been winning top positions in basketball and kabaddi. The students bagged various positions in the 7th youth festival for girls. They stood first in solo dance, solo song and monoacting, second in fancy dress and giddha, third in choreography. They bagged the overall trophy for the third consecutive year. Faculty improvement programmes are organised in the college regularly. The idea is to keep the teachers abreast of the latest in their fields. "You cannot afford to be complacent in this era of competition. You have to update yourself with the latest," says Mr Baljit Singh, Principal of the college. Campus placements are a routine feature, say college authorities. Yet another notable feature of the college is the internal revenue generation (IRG) scheme. The IRG is the first step towards self-dependence. The institute offers four skill-development courses, including English and Punjabi stenography, dress-designing and embroidery courses, under the IRG. The institution also serves as the headquarters for the Punjab Technical Institutes Sports, a state-level body with 61 technical institutes as its members. "Vocational and technical education is not about squeezing away students from the actualities of life to make way for technology. We want our students to be technologically competent and emotionally balanced persons who are thorough professionals. Our vision is to meet the challenges of the competitive world by encouraging and educating budding women technocrats. Our mission is to contribute our bit to the empowerment of women," says the college principal.
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At 22, he’s already a veteran comedian
At the age of 22 years, Jaswant has started earning well from various stage shows that he has been doing as a professional comedian. As a part of the Raunaqi Group, he has been assisting Chacha Raunaqi Ram in his stage performances in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and even New Delhi. Jaswant also did various comedy shows for local television channels in Ludhiana for three years when he was an undergraduate student at SCD Government College in Ludhiana. He can even be seen mimicking Akshay Kumar for a "Sada Campus" promo in Alpha Punjabi channel. He has lent his voice to the Jalandhar FM channel. In inter-zonal youth festival of Guru Nanak Dev University held at Ladhewali in October last year, he was declared first in histrionics as well as mimicry. His play "Kinner Katha" was also declared the best. He was then selected for the university-level competition, in which he won the second prize in mimicry. Interestingly, he mimics the voices of most actors and singers. From Suniel Shetty and Akshay Kumar to Shah Rukh and Amitabh, he can even mimic the voices of a few actresses, including Rakhi. Among the singers, he is an expert in mimicking the Wadali Brothers and Gurdas Mann. The young artiste says that he was in school when he started mimicking various actors and actresses. "I was fond of watching television, especially Hindi movies. After watching the movie, I used to copy the heroes. I remembered the dialogues so well that my friends used to be amazed," he recalls. "At times, my parents were furious. They would tell me to concentrate on my studies. They always told me that I was wasting my time. Gradually, when they saw me bringing home prizes and medals, their attitude changed. Now that I have even started earning a bit, they are satisfied," he adds. His aim is to become a professional comedian like Johny Lever or Ghuggi. He says that he would take up a theatre course after he completes post graduation.
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From the Schools
THE campuses of all schools in the city were once again abuzz with activities as the week-long winter break culminated on Sunday. The winter break in most of the schools had started on or before December 24. The students came back to their schools after holding Christmas and New Year celebrations with their families at home. New Year fest Students of Lawrence International School, Pathankot Bypass, held New Year celebrations on Saturday. The celebrations were held only for the students of classes X and XII after these students appeared for the pre-board examination. The rest of the classes were not a part of the celebrations since they had gone on winter break. Music was played and the students danced to the tunes of the latest numbers. The students also performed impromptu cultural items. Mr
G.S. Bajwa, Principal, and Mr J.R. Gupta, chairman, were also present on the occasion.
Training programme Teachers from various government upper, primary and middle sections are undergoing week-long training programmes being organised at Government Senior Secondary School, Mithapur Road. As many as 170 teachers took training in modern teaching methodology of social sciences, mathematics, Hindi and physical education from December 27 to 31. A batch of nearly 80 teachers is currently undertaking five-day training in Hindi and physical education that would conclude on January 10. From January 11 to 15, another training programme is scheduled for teachers of social sciences and mathematics, said Mr Gurdeep Singh, Principal of the school.
Traffic awareness Students from various government schools participated in the traffic awareness week that began at Kapurthala on Thursday. An on-the-spot painting competition was held at Jubilee Hall. The students were given various topics pertaining to traffic-safety rules. The contestants were divided into three categories - from age group 8 years to 10 years, 10 years to 14 years and 15 years to 17 years. Mr Surinder S. Atwal, District Education Officer (Secondary), said that a traffic awareness rally would be held on Sunday. This rally would conclude at Shalimar Bagh. Mr Mahinder Singh Kaypee, Transport Minister, would be the chief guest on the occasion, he added
Tsunami relief Headmasters and principals of all government high and senior secondary schools of Kapurthala attended a meeting convened by Mr Surinder S. Atwal, District Education Officer (Secondary) at Government Senior Secondary School, Ghanta
Ghar, on Thursday. The principals discussed about the collection of funds for relief and rehabilitation of tsunami victims. The DEO also gave the principals various instructions about the conduct of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) examination to be held in
March.
Sadbhavna tour A group of 30 students, 15 from Sainik School at Nagotra and 15 from other schools of Jammu and Kashmir visited Army Public School
(APS), Beas, to hold interaction with students. The 30 students were on their way to Roorkee, Dehradun and Mussourie on an excursion-cum-educational tour under Operation
Sadbhavna. Mr S.K. Bhardwaj, Principal APS, Beas, along with teachers and students of the school, received them on Wednesday. The interaction included a variety entertainment programme, screening of movies and joint dinner in the hostel mess. The visiting students were taken around the campus and shown the languages, mathematics, and geography laboratories, art room, swimming pool, gymnasium, stadium, auditorium and also the playgrounds. The host students, too, benefited from the treasure of experiences shared by their friends from Kashmir.
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The belt has also produced eminent wrestlers and weightlifters. Weightlifter Tara Singh is a recipient of the Arjuna Award. 
JOURNALISM may be creativity in hurry, and in some cases it may well scotch the best part of creativity. But not for Dr Ajay Sharma, a novelist who is a journalist by profession. Working with a vernacular daily, this writer draws his inspiration from everyday life.
HE has been the first prize winner of theatre events at inter-zonal youth festivals many a time. Enacting the role of police constable, eunuch and politician, Jaswant Singh Rathore, MA I (Punjabi) student of DAV College, has as many as 10 first prizes in histrionics and mimicry to his credit.