The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Good Morning Punjab

Once passive and almost inaudible, the FM Rainbow is on a revival path that’s making everyone all ears, says Deepkamal Kaur

Namaskar. Aadaab. Sat Sri Akal. A very warm welcome to all our listeners. You are tuned in to FM Rainbow at 102.7 MHz. Aap sun rahe hain hamara live phone-in programme— Good Morning Punjab. Is mein hum aapko denge dher sari jaankari aur sunayenge barhiya se geet. To karte hain is safar ki shuruat is geet se…..”

This is what you hear in most rural, many sub-urban and some urban households across the state at the break of the day. As people, busy in their daily chores, run around their houses, their ears are glued on to the voice waves of the radio jockey and the periodic songs coming out of the small, mostly Chinese, radio set lying at one corner of the room.

The radio culture that had become almost defunct in this part of Punjab got its oxygen more than a year ago with All India Radio pepping up its seven-year-old FM channel—FM Rainbow—by making it more interactive with live metro-style chats on the phone with common people and playing popular numbers throughout the day.

This Frequency Modulation (FM), technically a form of modulation which represents information as variations in the instantaneous frequency of a carrier wave and first introduced to the world in 1935 in a research paper presented in the New York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers by an American named Edwin Armstrong, follows you as you drive to the office, ride a rickshaw, stand in front of a grocery shop or eat choley bhaturey from a stall. Most car drivers prefer tuning in to FM than keep reversing the few beaten cassettes and scratched-out CDs lying in the case. As for the others, the next best option is only a TV, that too with a cable connection. It doesn’t take much to realise that the FM culture is catching on here.

In fact, this interference-free radio channel follows you everywhere—to a barber’s shop, coffee shop and even a Punjab Roadways bus. It is also on many mobile phones with youngsters carrying long or wireless earphones for instant music. No one’s waiting for the iPod.

The Jalandhar Radio Station has been the first one to start the FM wave in the state. The idea was emulated in Patiala, Bathinda and Chandigarh.

The city-based channel situated in the AIR’s heavily guarded office a stone’s throw away from the BMC Chowk, is heard all across Punjab except for some part of the Malwa belt, besides the whole of Himachal Pradesh and some parts of Jammu & Kashmir.

And officials at the AIR say their FM is more popular than the ones the other cities of the state since they are airing newer ideas.

This includes outdoor broadcasting, where in two radio jockeys travel in a mobile studio carefully set up in an Akashvani van and setting temporary base in popular places and some colleges in the city to chat with the commuters and the students.

The programme of Antaksahri that recently concluded was conducted on FM Rainbow for the first time. “It got a thumping response,” the officials add.

“The auditions for voice testing were held over the phone and the chosen few were given a registration number and invited to the FM studio,” one of the officials said.

Some listeners even get surprise calls from the FM Rainbow jockeys in a live afternoon show called Dial Out.

The ‘Lohri special’ radio DJ programme organised by FM Rainbow also got a good response, Ms Radha Sahni, a radio jockey, said. “Over 7,000 peppy dance numbers were recorded one after the another giving the DJ effect. With most people wanting to get a DJ during the Lohri celebration, our FM turned out to be the cheapest available option.”

Ms Reema, another RJ, said, “Jalandhar FM is now planning to hold a show in the Central Jail on the Republic Day. Jail inmates there will be given a chance to speak out to their families or express their hidden talent in singing, poetry or any other form.” The soundproof FM studio where all the action happens, is small and its walls are evenly punctured to absorb the sound.

Programme schedules hang on the white walls and yellow postcards from hundreds of fans are stacked on a rack. The RJ sits there in the company of more than ten thousand songs in the computer’s hard disc and the continuous flow of live and recorded voices of listeners and callers.

Mr Puneet Sehgal, the FM’s channel’s Programme Executive and also head of its marketing and drama section here, said their shows were getting a good response from all walks of life.

“Our jockeys have constantly been improving their skills and are trying to come up with newer ideas every time.”

He added that he did not feel any kind of threat from the private FM channels that were likely to enter the arena soon.

The FM channel has also brought with it a new career avenue for the youngsters—that is, being a radio jockey. With many private FM channels coming in, the market is heating up.

All one needed, Ms Reema said, was the ability to modulate one’s voice, proficiency in English, Hindi and a regional language, spontaneity with answers, the ability to write catchy scripts, tremendous talking capabilities and some quick wit.

An hour-long programme in which you have to control the console, the mike and the phones and present an almost flawless live chat show on the FM Rainbow, can fetch you Rs 500 flat.

And private FM channels are ready to shell out more. The income multiplies with the number of shows one can manage to do in a month. Ms Reema said since it was a part-time job, most radio jockeys were usually students who managed to earn some good pocket money.

The FM mania has also given rise to radio jockey training centres in many cities.

A Delhi-based company is coming up with its RJ and TV anchor grooming centre near the radio station itself.

Launching the new car model, Mr Ravi Santhanam, Managing Director, Hindustan Motors, said, “Lancer Cedia is a state-of-the-art car, loaded with power and aerodynamic enhancements.”

Lancer Cedia is a premium car evolved from the legendary Evo Series from Mitsubishi — the 4-time rally champion, according to a press release issued here.

The car can be easily negotiated in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the release claimed.

Commenting on the differences between the Lancer Cedia and the Lancer in the release, Mr Santhanam claimed, “The Lancer Cedia combines superior technology and design. With the Japanese technology, Lancer Cedia is remarkable combination of speed, power and elegance.”

Hearing centre

Widex India has inaugurated its hearing and speech therapy centre, “Senso Hearing Centre”, in the city. This is the company’s second centre in Punjab and ninth in the country, a press release issued here said. In the release, Mr T.S. Anand, Managing Director, said, “One in every 20 persons suffers from a hearing problem, but still the use of hearing aid is considered a stigma in the society.” Talking about the problem among children, he said, “Hearing impairment among children is a serious matter. Half of the people who suffer from the problem have been found to be of below 65 years of age. The problem affects the personality development of children.” — TNS

Five frequencies

The Jalandhar Radio Station airs five channels but the most popular one, for obvious reasons, is FM Rainbow. The channel, however, lags behind in terms of giving news updates. Presently the news is broadcast just twice a day—once in a morning and then in the evening. The next one is a regional channel with conventional shows like “Bhainan da programme,” “Mandian de bha” and “Fauji veeran da programme,” beamed at 343.6 mts, 873 KHz. Commercial Business Services— a business channel with ‘made in Mumbai’ prerecorded programmes— is the third option. The fourth and the most intriguing one is the B-channel— a two-hour Urdu service that is said to counter “inflammatory” statements made by radio channels from across the border. Its frequency is naturally directed towards listeners on the other side on the divide, sources in the AIR said. The Direct to Home (DTH), AIR’s fifth service, presents prerecorded programmes in Punjabi.

Kali Bein gets a new lease of life
Arun Sharma
Tribune News Service

For the past five years, Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal has been working relentlessly to clean the environment and develop of the area around Kali Bein in Sultanpur Lodhi.

Even the President of India, Mr APJ Abdul Kalam, has lauded the efforts of the Baba on nine different occasions for his environmental efforts.

As one starts to boat on the waters of the Bein, one is transported to the canals of some European city: such is the magnitude of work the Baba has done here.

After his efforts to stop pollutants and sewage being dumped into the 170-km-long rivulet failed, a new ray of hope has come with fresh water from the Beas flowing into the Bein.

Guru Nanak Dev, the first Sikh Guru, was said to have received enlightenment after taking a dip into the Kali Bein and hence the Bein is considered a sacred rivulet.

These days, Baba Seechewal, along with some of his followers, is busy doing kar seva near the historic Gurdwara Ber Sahib here. He told The Tribune that the Bein started from Dhanoa village in Hoshiarpur district and culminated at the Beas in Ahlikalan village here after traversing a distance of 170 km.

“During the rainy season, the floodwater of Beas enters the Bein near Ahali Kalan and the same water reaches Sultanpur Lodhi,” he added.

The Baba and his followers are now working on a project to remove the crest of the silt that has deposited over the bed of the rivulet, preventing the recharging of the ground water. “This will also help save the area from floods,” the Baba said. “With the silt out of place and the bed getting deeper, the flow of the water from the Beas will rise.”

Presently the bed of the rivulet is higher than the bed of the Beas, which prevents the inflow of water.

Baba Seechewal aims to clear the silt from the 10-km-long bed of the Bein that runs up to the Beas near Ahlikalan within a year.

To complete the mammoth task, he has blocked the flow of the sewage water from Sultanpur Lodhi into the Bein by diverting it into an idle drain. He also plans to plug the sewage from other villages falling into this stretch of the Bein.

The Baba said he was trying to make environmental matters as an issue in the next Assembly elections. “I have asked the political parties to include pollution-free river waters, clean environment, primary education and roads in their poll manifestos.”

“I’m also appealing to the voters to elect only those candidates whose manifestos include these issues,” he said.

The Baba has a considerable influence in Sultanpur Lodhi, Lohian, Kapurthala and Tanda constituencies as people from these areas have voluntarily come forward to preserve the Kali Bein.

Even Mr Samir Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Kapurthala, has twice issued prohibitory orders banning the dumping of pollutants from 76 villages into the Bein.

Even though three villages— Meira, Kanjali and Mitha— have stopped putting sewage water into the rivulet, these orders remain on papers only as no action has yet been taken against the defaulters.

Different Strokes
Poetry is this teacher’s forte
Anil Jerath
Tribune News Service

Adorned with the Mother Teresa Award and graced with the title of Rotaract Mother, Dr Neelam Sethi, teaching in the Kamla Nehru College for Women here, is someone about whom not only Phagwara, but the whole of Punjab can feel proud of.

She has been an upright teacher, social worker, commendable erudite, adroit writer, excellent poetess, inquisitive research scholar, research director and orator.

She was even awarded “For Turning Dreams Into Achievement” by the former Prime Minister, Mr I.K. Gujral.

Born in Kanpur in 1953, Dr Neelam Sethi said she was inclined towards education right from her childhood.

She did her MA in Hindi with a scholarship and an MA in Sanskrit with a gold medal. She completed her Ph.D in 1986 from Guru Nanak Dev University.

She has also authored three books. Her anthologies were published by the Language Department of Punjabi University in Patiala. He book of poems titled “Mausamon ke saath sath” was widely appreciated.

In August 2003, a seminar at Guru Nanak Dev University’s Hindi Department was opened with lines from her verses.

Dr Sethi is said to be the first women writer from Punjab whose anthology, the University of Himachal Pradesh has prescribed for the syllabus of M. Phil.

Presently, she is working for the University Grants Commission on a project on Indian culture.

She has also presented radio and TV programmes, besides regularly speaking on social issues.

Presently, she is the member of many organisations in India and abroad. These include the American Biographical Centre (US), Punjab Art Heritage, Gandhi Peace Foundation, National Alliance for Women and Nagri Lippi Parishad.

Her biographical data has been published in the eighth edition of the International Directory of Distinguished Leadership and the seventh edition of the International Who’s Who of Professional and Business Women by the American Biographical Institute.

One of her poems reads:

“Ayae ho to behtar banayo

Auron ki duniya,

Aur maksad hee kya hai

Yahan aane ke liye.”

It’s magic
Minna Zutshi
Tribune News Service

A sleight of hand, a sprinkling of hypnotism and a bit of psychological play, magic has a charm that enthralls the young at heart. And the most powerful magician is the Almighty, conjuring up tricks to keep his creation busy. Well, this magic talk comes from magician O.P. Sharma, a Kanpur-based magic expert, who is in the city these days.

He says magic cannot sustain itself unless it involves a focussed approach and a regular practice. “I was in Class II when I became fascinated by magic. I started learning small tricks. And then there was no looking back,” he says, adding, “I learnt that magic is an art that includes many arts, albeit in varying measures. A magician has to learn the principles of science as well. And he also has to learn to put these principles to practice. There’s yet more. The magician must be able to strike a rapport with the audience. You cannot perform magic for a hostile audience.”

Magicians have a social responsibility, feels Sharma. “We make it a point to impress upon the audience that magic is a secular art. It has nothing to do with fake god men claiming to have power to materialise things out of nothing. There are so many charlatans who make preposterous claims of having supernatural powers and take gullible people for a ride. We try our best to make people magic-savvy, so that they can distinguish between magic as an art and plain duping,” he says.

Interestingly, Sharma has a degree in mechanical engineering. But it’s magic that is his calling. “I have presented more than 30,000 shows across India and in foreign countries.”

It’s no magic when Sharma finds his magic shows drawing appreciation. After all, magic has a universal appeal!

From Schools and Colleges
Alumni meet at Doaba College

A meeting of Doaba College Old Students’ Association was organised on the campus here on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by a host of old students, including Manoranjan Kalia, former Health Minister, Tejinder Bittu, Chairman Improvement Trust, Gurpreet Ghuggi and Chacha Raunqi Ram, both comedians.

On the occasion, the old students organised a farewell party for Mr Gulshan Kundra, Head of Political Science Department, who had retired after a long service. The teacher was presented the Dronacharya Award instituted by the association. He was also given a cash award of Rs 51,000. The association members said that they would give such awards to all retiring teachers from next year onwards. Hans Raj Hans, an old student of DAV College, was invited as a guest on the occasion.

Seminar

The business club of Guru Nanak Dev University College organised a seminar on “Marketing yourself and motivating yourself” on Wednesday. Dr Anish Dua, Reader, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Ms Neetu Mahajan, from the placement cell of Guru Nanak Dev University, were visiting faculty on the occasion.

Dr Anish Dua explained the challenges and problems of the present time. He motivated the students to develop traits like enthusiasm, love, discipline and service. Ms Mahajan laid stress on development of communication skill, body language, internal personality and expression. She said clarity of thought could lead to clarity of speech and expression. Principal, Dr Usha Kapoor, told the students to have a definite goal, do proper planning, enhance knowledge, be enthusiastic and remain determined.

Paper reading

A two-day seminar on e-business concluded at DAV College on Wednesday. Prof T.R. Dhingra welcomed the delegates. Prof S.K. Mahajan, DAV College, Phillaur, read out his paper on benefits of e-business and added that various companies were taking to net-trading.

Twenty delegates read out their papers on the merits and demerits of e-business. Mr Tajinder Singh Bittu, Chairman of Improvement Trust, was the chief guest. Mr Rajinder Pal Randhawa, Chairman, Market Committee, and Mr Surinder Singh, Chairman, Zila Parishad, also attended the seminar. Mr Ashwani, Director of Vector Tools and Deputy Regional Chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council, Northern India, presided over the session. Mr M.L. Aeri, Principal, gave a vote of thanks.

Pre-placement

The DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology organised a five-day pre-placement training camp for the students of B.Tech (Final) that concluded on Wednesday.

Dr Rajneesh Arora, Director, Placement, Guru Nanak Dev University, gave an extension lecture on “Placement scenario for IT professionals.” He talked about the different types of technical challenges being faced by the youth. Mr C.L. Kochher, Director-cum-Principal, said the world was changing more quickly than the way most people had expected. He said the representatives from the Wipro company would be visiting the college for holding campus placement on January 19.

Extension lecture

An extension lecture on “Drug addiction and AIDS” was organised at the Guru Nanak College of Education for Women, Kapurthala, on last Wednesday.

The lecture was delivered by Dr Raghbir Singh Bains, the author of the first multi-media “Encyclopaedia on Sikhism” and director of the first multi-media Sikh museum at Khadoor Sahib. He talked about alcoholism and drug addiction and ways to confront such problems. Mr Jarnail Singh Pasricha, secretary, Ms Gursharan Kaur, Principal, were also present on the occasion.

Lohri celebrations

GDR Convent School and GDR Day Boarding School, Phagwara, celebrated Lohri with fervour. According to GDR Convent School authorities, the celerbrations marked the first Lohri after the school was granted affiliation with the CBSE.

A special morning assembly was held at Sanskriti KMV School to mark the occasion of Lohri festival. Kanupriya, Class III student, threw light on the significance of celebrating the festival. A bonfire was lit by Ms Usha Pandey, Principal. Students sang songs and danced to the tunes of Punjabi folk tunes. Girls and boys performed giddha and bhangra. Sweets were distributed to all. An inter-class gift wrapping competition was held. Students used different accessories to wrap the items. Certificates were distributed to the winners.

The students of Seth Hukum Chand Sanatan Dharam Public Senior Secondary School, Kapurthala Road, also celebrated Lohri. Children sang songs and danced around a bonfire to celebrate the festival. Groundnuts, gachak and “reoris” were distributed to all. Ms Manju Arora, Principal, was also present on the occasion.

The festival was also celebrated at Dayanand Model School, Model Gram. The kindergarten wing was beautifully decorated and kids were dressed in their traditional best. The students sang folk songs and performed giddha and bhangra. A bonfire was lit and sweets were distributed among all students and staff.

Gifts for students

HDFC Bank has donated school dresses, school bags, water bottles and a steel trunk to the Unique Home Orphanage House.

After distributing the items at a function here, the bank’s Regional Head, Ms Neena Singh, said, “I assure you that as the bank grows, we will step up our support to good causes.” — TNS

(Compiled by Deepkamal Kaur)

People’s Concern
Potholed roads mark ward number 45
Anita D Mahajan
Tribune News Service

They have proper water supply, good sewerage system, and are provided with many other civic facilities, but what they miss in their locality is the construction of concrete roads.

Residents of various localities that come under ward number 45 of the Municipal Corporation complain of not having good roads, which they feel are necessary for their colonies to be considered as the “well maintained” ones. They allege that the Municipal Corporation has failed to lay concrete roads on some parts of various localities, including Green Model Town, New Green Model Town, Shiv Vihar and Bank Enclave, even a decade after these colonies came into existence.

“Everyday, we have to pass through the slippery and muddy streets. Senior citizens cannot walk on the potholed surfaces,” says Mr N.S. Walia, a resident of Green Model Town.

“We have to keep our doors and windows closed as the dust from the street gets collected in our house. If we go to attend any function or party, we have to be careful as the muddy streets can soil our attire,” says Amarjeet Kaur from Shiv Vihar.

The condition of the pathways becomes worse during monsoon when water gets collected in various potholes on the streets. “The stagnant water is an invitation to various diseases,” she says.

The Municipal Corporation was not paying attention towards some parts of these localities, while concrete roads had been constructed in other parts of the colonies, Mr Walia alleged.

“We were asked to pay development charges, which were supposed to be used for providing various facilities, including roads, in Green Model Town. The residents of the colony paid the development charges through cheques, which amounted to Rs 3 lakh. The cheques were deposited with the Municipal Corporation around five years back,” said Mr Om Prakash Sharma, another resident of Green Model Town. However, neither the amount was utilised nor the roads had been constructed till date, he alleged.

“The MC officials say that our locality comes under unauthorised area, but well-maintained roads can be seen in the nearby areas that are also unauthorised,” he added.

When contacted, the area Municipal Councillor, Mr Balraj Thakur, said, “These localities come under unapproved area. For the roads to be constructed in such areas, we have to depend on the grants.”

However, he claimed that the MC would start the construction work for the roads in some of the localities in the area within two months, as over Rs 6 lakh from the grants had been allocated for the purpose. The tender had already been passed for the project, he added.