Belly Bazaar
Belly dancing has become an effective marketing tool for promoting ideas, goods and services in Chandigarh, says Saurabh Malik

Belly dancers — tripping the light fantastic in translucet long-slit genie pants embellished with shimmering coins and tassels over beads and sequins, complimenting those high-cut crop tops with twinkling stars cascading down the sheer fabric — are throwing the veil off their fair visages, and products, gorgeously and gracefully.

Right folks, you have guessed it correctly. Belly dancing by performers even from faraway places like Russia has become an effective marketing strategy for promoting “ideas, goods and services” not just in the metropolitans, but right here in Chandigarh.

And it’s not just hotels and restaurants across the city that are offering a heady cocktail of invigorating golden elixir gushing into sparkling cut glasses and excitement flowing out of belly dancers’ fluid movements to pull guests on the New Year’s Eve.

Even multi-national organisations and so many other private firms are elegantly using the graceful dance of the East for building up their image and prestige in the starry-eyes of the general public looking for exciting diversions from their grinding nine-to-nine routine.

Having doubts about the popularity and effectives of the latest marketing move? Just take a round of the hotels and restaurants in the city. Chances are that you will come across a bash with belly dancers setting the mood for the evening.

On Wednesday alone, an evening of belly dancing was organised at The Piccadily in Sector 22 by two real-estate developers — the Tulip and the Kwality Group — to announce the setting up of the country’s “first shopping mall with a four-star hotel” in Zirakpur on the Delhi-Chandigarh-Shimla highway. The mall, with shop `n’ stay facility and a pub-cum-discotheque, is expected to be ready by April 2008.

Well, there were other dance numbers also, but it was belly dancing that caught the crowd’s attention. As the thumping beats and rhythmic notes of an oriental number bellowing out of the impressive speakers strategically placed on either sides of the podium filled the heavy moisture-laden air, a charming belly dancer in sheer scarlet dress riding high breezed in.

For the crowd, time stood still as she gracefully rolled her belly before gently vibrating her whole body in sync with the music. As the shining beads around her belly rose and fell with poise, they forget all about their drinks.

Phew, guys! A decade back who would have imagined belly dancers setting the stage ablaze with their soft-shoe steps in a city once considered to be inhabited by the tired, the retired and about to expire! But then, those were the days when nightclubs were non-existent in Chandigarh and girls did not wear caps with sunshades turned back. Things are fast changing. That’s the way it is! 

Desi Diva
Samiya Khawar Mumtaz, participating in Neelam Mansingh’s theatre workshop, believes in celebrating all that is indigenous from farming to dancing, says Nirupama Dutt

Before the members of the Ajoka theatre group of Lahore, famed director Madeeha Gohar included, go to attend Neelam Mansingh’s theatre workshop, they are put through a rigorous hour of yoga. The instructor is none other the lithe and lissome Samiya Khawar Mumtaz, an actor of the group and one of those multi-faceted young women who are making a difference to life and society in Pakistan.

Meeting her is a delight and watching her emote a still greater delight. Her mother Khawar Mumtaz, well-known feminist who runs the Shirkat Gah group in Pakistan, handed over feminism to her with the rattle in her cradle. “ I started using my mother’s name with mine early in life for it was rubbish to be only my father’s daughter. I am my mother’s daughter as well,” she says with her infectious smile.

Freedom comes

After a protected and sheltered schooling, it was to Kinnaird College in Lahore with psychology and English literature for subjects. Samiya says, “The subjects were just an excuse for being in college. College was all about freedom, ideas, debates, discussions and theatre.” With the new opening up, the scene shifted to Mt. Hollyoak College in Chicago where Samiya planned to graduate in theatre. “Plans changed because theatre the American way. Emotions are cultural and I did not fit the bill there and I just couldn’t get myself to go twang-twang,” she says.

Instead she graduated in Third World Development Studies. The degree in hand she came home to shock her parents with the statement that she wanted to be a farmer, farming the ‘desi’ way as had been done for centuries sans the American fertilizers and pesticides. And for a decade she has been doing farming on 16 acres the organic way with friends and family having pitched in to buy the land as a cooperative.

Dancing days

Perhaps she is the lone farmer who is also an exponent of Baratanatyam. A grand niece of actor Zohra Sehgal, her first date with dance came when she stayed in Aurbindo Ashram when she was all of eighteen years and her first teacher was Kiran Sehgal. “I now learn from Indu Mitha, who is the lone Bharatanatyam teacher in our country. So weekends, I take a bus to Islamabad to be with my guru and weekdays I practice on my own,” says Samiya. A member of the Ajoka group for several years, Samiya has made quite an impression on Neelam here. “Samiya has been so good in the woprkshop, “ says Neelam.

No, thank you

A proud mother of Hatim (6) and Nawal (2), she had to say ‘No thank you’ to marriage because of a clash of values. “When I married him, he was a theatre activist but later he was to become a successful corporate lawyer thinking just as the corporates do,” says the gutsy girl.

How do the different streams that she is pursuing come together? Samiya is a little surprised by the question. “Don’t to think it all ties together. The effort is to celebrate the indigenous in different forms. It is a matter of being ourself and respecting our identities. Well said by a Desi girl schooled in the West and turning it to her advantage.

Living by tall claims
Its not just Yukta Mukhi’s five feet eleven inches that make her stand out but also her zealous efforts to live up to the claims that every beauty queen makes, says Shreyasi Thakur

Her silver stilettos take a few hurried steps, and the grace follows haphazardly. You won’t even need to struggle hard to catch a glimpse of her, for isn’t she so thoughtfully tall for everybody’s convenience? Remember that blue gem studded crown that this pretty head carried off with all her grace and the satin sash gushed with pride? That was way back in 1999 when she was entitled Miss World. Yukta Mookhey’s serenity and poise had impressed the judges.

When she was asked whom she admires the most, she had named the Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn for her “inner beauty, compassion and great aura.” But Thursday afternoon, at the British Air Hostess Academy, where she had come for an interactive and grooming session, her answer didn’t match. After all these years, she has realized that it would be unjust to admire just a single person because there are so many who have worked up for themselves and proved their worth. Dressed in blue jeans, pink shimmery top and a small denim jacket, she looked charmingly feminine and carelessly sporty at the same time. Anorexic, ofcourse not, for the lady has absolutely no love for gymming. “Siddhi yoga is my body’s real calling,” she snaps back when asked about her fitness regime.

Talking about her debut film, Pyaasa , opposite Aftaab Shivdasani, she’s sure she did justice to her role. “A movie is about team effort and if ego hassles start dominating it and ‘I’ starts replacing ‘we, ’ it leads the movie towards its doom.”

One of her upcoming projects is Memsaab, which is based on the’84 riots. “It’s a woman oriented movie with a social message,” she informs. There is another one, a Sanjay Khanna directed Katputli, where she plays the role of a young bubbly girl.

But why a huge gap in between? “I have been into classical music all this while which kept me pretty busy and moreover I would like to do roles with substance. You would never catch me in something like Mallika Sherawat’s Murder.” According to her, an ideal classical performance is a live performance but she won’t mind working with music directors with raga- based songs.

And is it difficult to find actors of her height? A casual “No, not at all!” pops up instantly and names like Abhishek Bachchan and Arjun Rampal follow up in defence.

Wondering if she has lived up to the tall claims that a Miss World makes in that benevolence-act? Well, the young lady sure has a heart that cares. She is an ambassador of National Women’s Liberation campaign and has also worked for children suffering from cancer at Tata Memorial Hospital. Other than this, she constantly works with various NGO’s to spread AIDS awareness among the general masses. “And yes, I’ve donated my organs,” comes another proof enough that she’s living by those tall claims. So for those who believe in beauty being skin deep, doesn’t she still deserve the crown! 

Click and paint
Gayatri Rajwade

Abstraction in fine form but no brushes here instead the mouse runs riot! Monika Grover’s exhibition of digital prints charms with an inherent vitality that splashes through a gamut of perceptions, ideas and colours to present a myriad fiesta of 22 prints.

From the non-figurative mellow merges of psychedelic green, yellow, pink, lilac and blue titled Illusions to a heaps of blossoms in black and white and red Through my Window, the Lotus Pond with its dark waters holding glowing red and blue flora and Nothing Beyond Nature with its orange soaked sky and birds, one soaring and the other perched on a ladder, nature seems to predominate. Even the rains find illustration in the virtual thatch of bright umbrellas, akin to the Chinese rice hats worn by peasants in Chinese villages.

And it is not just her evident skill on the computer that is apparent, it is also her play with forms and space that delights as in Creativity with Nature with its flowers, dragonflies, black contours of birds against a piquant red and pristine white that fascinates.

Similarly the layered Dynamism of Life in sugar pink, the silhouette of a Folk Dancer in vivid lines, The Daffodils, a riotous composition in pop-art comic strip style, The Abstraction, lively black and blue dancing forms to the earth-toned Folk Motifs, there is a vigorous blend of what Monika refers to as “aesthetic ideas, not abstract thoughts but a sum of impressions, feelings, emotions, moods and reflections.”

Her artistic credentials are on firm ground. Having graduated with Fine Arts from the Government College of Art in the city and following it up with a post-graduate degree in arts from Punjabi University, this creative lady likes to dabble and explore new mediums.

From her first solo exhibition, held in the city in 2001, which comprised black and white images in ink to this exhibition on digital prints, delving into new avenues is her beat. And to think this motley collection of 22 prints happened quite by accident.

“My father is a photographer and when he started experimenting with digital photography I got interested as well and started to work on the computer, playing with forms and ideas. I took some prints and they came out rather well and I just went from one to the next and here is the all that work,” she smiles. About 7 to 8 months is all it took to bring this collection up for viewing. 

A hub for the teeenager

There's more to a teenager's room than a bunch of posters on the walls and a pile of dirty clothes on the floor. Teenage studies claim that teens fare best in 'apartment-within-the-house', minus the kitchen but with a private bath. The idea is that this will help ease the eventual transition into independent living, while still keeping the family and teen within close reach. Private bath certainly makes the long hours teens tend to spend there a little easier on the rest of the household.

A bed, work area and storage are still the essentials. A desk that is large enough to hold a computer and still have ample space to spread out papers and books is ideal. Invest in a comfortable, ergonomically sound chair, as sitting at a desk browsing the web and chatting has come to rival talking on the phone as the favorite teen activity.

Storage takes precedence, as this is the age when kids really get into defining themselves by their stuff: clothes, makeup, sneakers, magazines, CDs, trendy electronic gadgets. Given that teens are serious slobs, providing ample storage for the mass junk they accumulate can help keep the mess to whatever minimum neatness they can manage.

Don't forget to include extra storage options in the bathroom for the vast assortment of grooming products teens often like to experiment with, and that includes both guys and girls. These days it's more than just cheap deo and hair gel. There's a different paint-on hair colour for each day, body glitter, nail polish, more creams and potions to keep them up with their respective Johnses.

It goes without saying that teens like to talk on the phone at great length, so you might as well work it into the decorating scheme. Ensure that it's either cordless or astronomically long cord that can move easily between the desk, the bed and the bathroom, or consider having more than one extension in the room. It might be easier on the rest of the family if it's on a separate line from the rest of the house.

Do put a sofa making it a personal miniature living room for entertaining friends and watching TV. It may encourage kids to stay in their rooms all the time without ever interacting with the rest of the family. However, on the bright side you will escape being subjected to teen taste in music and movies; after all, a little Britney can go a long way! And a sofa can double as an extra bed for friends sleeping over, another diehard teen favorite.

Whilst speaking of Britney, most teens like to crank up the tunes as loud as you'll let them. It must be something hormonal; apparently they just can't hear the music unless the folks in the next township can hear it too. To save your own sanity if not your ears, you might want to include a lot of fabric and carpeting in the room to absorb some of the sound. Big pillows on the floor and clothes folded on shelves instead of in drawers are also good for this. Consider putting fabric chintz paneling on the walls. It's probably not a good idea to totally soundproof the place, since it's good to be able to tell when they're home, and of course you want to be able to hear them call if something's wrong.

Above all, the main thing to remember when decorating for a teen is to do it with his or her input. At this age, kids are all about creating an environment that expresses who they are, and if you don't cater to this need then they will take the lovely and seemingly reasonable decorating scheme you devise without them and alter it beyond recognition. You might as well work with them, and you may find it comforting that teens are now more design-conscious than ever before.

With basic teen rules clarified, we shall look at various teen decorating themes next week.

Courtesy: Besten & Co.

TABLA is his legacy
Parbina Rashid

He was thrilled when he was told that his idol Zakir Hussain would visit his college in Ambala. The year was 1986. But when the day came, he got luckier than he ever expected. On that gloomy night when the ustad expressed his desire for a hot cup of tea, he alone had the resources to provide him one, as he resided just next to the university campus. He made a steaming cup and took it to the ustad in his lone steel glass. Even today, that glass happens to be Parveen Rathi’s most treasured possession.

This is the story of Parveen Rathi, Ambala-based tabla player and his hero worship. But it is not just the glamour of the ustad that attracted him. For Parveen himself is a renowned tabla player who has curved his niche in field of percussion music.

“I had bagged a state award in tabla playing when I was only in class III,” says Parveen, who visited the city recently. His foray into the world of music started with listening to the radio and beating on anything and everything that he could lay his hands on. But then he had a musical legacy to follow. Both his father and his grandfather were percussionists.

“I learnt the art informally, at least till I went to college. It was during my college days that I had this opportunity to learn tabla from Gyan Chaurasia through the guru-shishya parampara,” says Praveen as he hands out a list whom he has worked with—Surinder Bachchan, Umesh Sharma, Lal Kawal, Gurdas Mann, Sardool Sikander, Hans Raj Hans, Hardeep and even Bollywood brethren like Anwar, Sukhwinder, Madhushree and Mangal Singh. Impressive!

Praveen has also performed at all major music festivals in India and abroad.

Though trained in the Punjab Gharana, Praveen now opts for light classical types. “To retain the classical element in tabla, one has to stick to only solo shows, and in that case it is not possible to thrive financially,” he says. What is more, to strengthen his position, he has started playing other folk instruments like the dholak and tasha.

Praveen, who is concentrating in getting his swar right by dedicating at least six hours on riyaz, life is all about meeting challenges and improving one’s skill. “One of my biggest achievement came when, way back in 1987, Birju Maharaj included me in his orchestra team in Russia,” says Praveen. Of course, with this kind of achievement on hand, it is difficult to settle for less!

Fizzed up
Anandita Gupta

How do you perceive a woman-anchor? A dumb dud firing non-stop meaningless chatter at her audiences? Someone who seems more interested in her scanty dress than meaningful talk? Or someone who’d make you wonder if her heavily done make-up is as artificial as her fake accent? Well, young anchor Harjyot Kaur promises a fresh whiff of decency and drive.

Life already seems to be on a creative roll for this young Punjabi mutiar. Sitting coyly amidst the cast and crew of the talent hunt show titled Punjabi Idol, being shot in Chandigarh on Wednesday, the petite Harjyot Kaur looked queen bee, no less. And then, as we asked the eight finalists of the show to introduce themselves, she rattled off their names without pausing for breath. Perhaps that explained what this girl was doing in a show with all men participants. Yes, she was there to add some fizz to the show—by compeering in her delightfully Punjabi accent!

A tête-à-têtes of sorts with the Patiala kudi at the Park View revealed her absolute passion for anchoring. “Anchoring is not just glib talking. Though one has memorized the relevant scripts, it’s very important to be alert and spontaneous. I keep the already-nervous participants charged and my audiences interested through jokes and lively banter, interspersed with a dash of informative remarks,” she bubbles with enthu, talking about her first love—anchoring.

Sporting her trademark Patialvi salwar kameez in hot Pink, the B.Com student gets nostalgic when asked about her entry into TV anchoring. “I still remember those student days when I did theatre as a hobby. My love for theatre found its successful fructification when I won in the plays held at the college youth festival, at both national and international levels. But then offers from DD and NRI Punjabi channels started pouring in. After I compered for Pind di nuhaar, I realised that anchoring was my real calling,” comes the detailed answer from the girl who loves to talk.

With a breezy expression in her dream-drenched eyes, she smiles the smile that lights up the room, the girl declares, “I’ve always loved to perform, be it acting, singing and dancing. Anchoring is something that gives a vent to all these passions, besides keeping my creative juices flowing. So I dream of being the best Punjabi anchor.”

Having started young, Harjyot has miles to go before she sleeps. But with her batteries fully charged, doesn’t success seem just a step away?

NEW RELEASES
Madhur back with 'Corporate'

Sahara One Motion Pictures, in association with the Percept Picture Company, presents the much-awaited film 'Corporate'. The film is a part of the director Madhur Bhandarkar's trilogy of films, which reflect the present social structure of Mumbai. Madhur delves into the world of money and power in the 'Corporate'. This one is a deadly game of one-upmanship, backstabbing and a sophisticated game that is played behind the glass corridors. That is the subject of 'Corporate'. Like all of Madhur Bhandarkar's films, 'Corporate' is going to be a realistically shot. The movie opens today at Kiran, Chandigarh and Fun Republic, Manimajra.

'Corporate' stars Bipasha Basu in a central role. She plays the role of a female business tycoon who wants to achieve a lot in her life and career. Supported by actors like Kay Kay Menon, Raj Babbar, Rajat Kapoor, Sammir Dattani, Harsh Chhaya, Minissha Lamba, Lillete Dubey along with Payal Rohatgi in a guest appearance, Bipasha Basu watches battle of wits and strategies between the two tycoons. 'Corporate' shows the real face of a the corporate's glitter. The film takes a deep insight in the mindset of these powerful people and attempts to find out what makes them tick. It also explores the nexus between the corporate world and the political and follows the trial of sex and corruption.

The film stars a lot of budding actors as well. Shot mostly indoors, the film has music by 'Page 3" composer Shamir Tandon with Sandeep Nath doing the job as a lyrist.

So get ready to watch the handful of men and women who hold in their hands the power to influence the lives of unsuspecting millions.

— D.P.

YOUTH SPEAK
Technology and we

Bestowed with the power of science, we live in the illusion of having found a solution to all our problems, not realizing the after effects of the same. Though we've made our lives easier than before but undoubtedly, we have also managed to increase the number of problems, affecting us directly or indirectly. Science has never solved any problem without giving rise to another one. Any solution to our benefit has caused another trouble. The invention of hi-tech gadgets like computers and mobiles has given way to voyeurism, invasion to privacy and not to forget the health hazards. They have also made us accessible all the time and at all the places, which is unwanted many a times. Thus leaving us stressed out.

Another example is of air conditioner. This, much cherished invention was created for relieving ourselves from unbearable heat. Sitting in front of it makes us feel relaxed and chilled out, but ever tried standing behind it? Well this is the effect it has on our environment. The constant and uncontrollable use of this and other gadgets, which release aerosols, cause the depletion of the ozone layer, thus, increasing the levels of heat. So eventually, no solution to the heat problem! Quite ironic, isn't it?

Moreover our daily life routine has got so electricity dependent that now the feel of its scarcity makes us numb. And guess what? To find a solution to this crisis we already have generators and invertors ready.

The unique facilities of science and technology have made us addicted to them. Everything seems to be a button away. And now we hear that we've got the gift of a technology that works according to our thinking patterns. So forget even pressing the buttons.

All our work, from morning, when we wake up to the sound of our electronic cocks, till night when we sleep to the company of the jukebox, is done with the assistance of science. And this assistance is turning into necessity. Humans have become so lazy that they require electronic massagers to relax their muscles and pills to cure their joints problems. With everything made easy, our tiredness is due to idleness and not labour.

— Akanksha Bansal

Biking away to glory

For so many damsels free from the stress and nervousness of annual examinations, it’s time to study the book of style on the university and college campuses. Right, till the time the classes begin again. Just in case you are wondering what’s included in the chic and modish curriculum of life, here’s the answer: a lesson or two on bike riding.

Folks, you have guessed it right. Zooming down the fast track of life and style on macho bike is the latest craze amidst so many girls studying in Panjab University, even in colleges across the city. As the winds of change and Monsoons blow soft across their make-up dabbed visages, they borrow bikes from classmates for that daring look oh-so-hot these days.

If you still haven’t seen the biker girls going through the course outline of campus fashion on single-cylinder flying machines, just hop into your car and drive down the road winding its way through high society to happy hunting grounds in and around the campuses. You will find so many girls zipping away from powder puffs and lipsticks into the male bastion on bikes.

Guys, it’s a common sight, especially in the Leisure Valley area around the Government Arts College in Sector 10. Go there in the noon and you will find so many dames taming the wild machines with fragile precision, challenging the rough terrains of social order in the rider’s seat.

As their delicate hands gently release the cultch levers while reviving up the machines; the growling engine, struggling to break free, coughs and sputters before lurching ahead through a strong current of conventions, brutishly and defiantly.

Watching them negotiate the turns and twists of life and time, you will realise that the lasses have broken free from the unfair image of a “lesser man” and are zipping towards a world where they are not considered the “God’s second mistake”.

“Biker girls in chic jackets over rugged jeans, wearing nice caps or sunshades instead of helmets were in vogue earlier also,” asserts a lecturer teaching English in a local government college. “But their number has swelled in the recent times. Now everywhere you look, you find girls saying goodbye to chichi mopeds, and enjoying life on bikes, once considered a man’s mate”.

And what do these biker girls have to say about their new image and trait, “We simply love the reaction…. You see so many guys still do not like to see girls flowing against the tide of customs and traditions so confidently. In fact, a large number of them feel threatened and challenged as if we were going to ram the bikes into their inflated egos,” says an Arts College student on the condition of not being quoted. That’s the way it is.

Charm unlimited

Gleaming crystals cascading down the glamorously glittering asymmetrical dresses, sparkling wedge heels, and flashy smiles. If you wish to see live fashion shows on the ramp of life, just drive down to the Panjab University on the day entrance examinations to different courses are to be held.

As the students appear for specially designed aptitude tests, you will find fashion in full bloom. “You see, it’s the best time to flaunt your looks,” says fresh-out-of-college student Nina Sharma. “With admissions still several steps away, you do not have to worry about the seniors ragging you”. Folks, what are you waiting for! Just switch off fashion television, check the examination schedule and be there for live demonstration!

— Saurabh Malik

Tequila shot Tanushree
Anandita Gupta in a tete-e-tete with the sultry Chocolate girl Tanushree Dutta, lounging around cozily at Flying Cats-8.

A tribute to pen friendship
SD Sharma

Nursing a literary vein, young pathologist, Dr Manjit Singh Bal got obsessed with the idea of pen friendship way back in 1978, after having glimpsed the ‘Pen Pal’ column of the Tribune Newspaper. HIs carefully chosen pen pal, Danuta Kunstler from Poland seemed to be equally inspired by Voltaire’s contention ‘The post is the constellation of life’.

The exchange of letter between Danuta and Manjit, for over a quarter century, indeed established a bond of belief and understanding, which had blossomed to a significant Saga of dormant love and affection, even amongst their family members.

Dr Bal has rightfully honoured the spirit of pen friendship with Danuta by documenting the letters through a book veritably titled Celebrating Silver Jubilee of Letters — Pen Friendship’. The book with a foreword by eminent journalist, Prabhjot Singh was released on Sunday at Chandigarh by cine actor Jaspal Bhatti.

Presently heading the department of Pathology at the Government Medical College Patiala, Dr Manjit Singh Bal is a man of myriad traits, a self taught but accomplished singer and flautist besides blessed with a literary vein. He has penned two books on health in Punjabi including ‘Sehat samasyana te chetnta’ and ‘Rogan di utpati kiven ate kiyon’ brought out by Punjabi University. ‘I chose to write in Punjabi medium to benefit the rural masses at large. Having born and brought up in a pastoral ambience, I am well versed with their psyche, maintains Dr Bal. After Dr. Bal presented a flute and vocal recital at International conferences at Lahore, Dhaka and Sydney, one English pathologist remarked that ‘I am sure Dr Bal will sing his research papers in the next conference to the delight of many.

Danuta Kunstlar (and her letters) is a household name in the Bal family, as Mrs Inderjit Kaur Bal intervenes to suggest that the content of her letters had been very informative and pleasant. Dr Bal, endorsing the comments of his better half, says Danunta, whome we never met, was inquisitive about Indian cultural heritage, especially the Sikh community and culture. 

Poetry, painting & the Amaltas

Writing the headline before writing the text is not a very good habit. But then one can boast of few good habits. As I move down keying in the text, the feeling that I get and a very strong one that there is something wrong with the headline. Ideally, it should have been ‘poetry, painting and popcorn’. That’s how it was in a much-loved poem that my friend Vineet Khanna had written many years ago. The boy tells his sweetheart that for once let’s not talk of poverty and prostitutes. Instead, an entreaty is made for talking about ‘Poetry, painting and popcorn’. It is a heart-warming entreaty, indeed. Vineet is no more but whenever one is talking of painting and poetry, his lines come back to the mind. And of course, Vineet. He was a rare one spending a lifetime laid up on the stretcher with a crippling disease and yet living life to hilt. Yes, what one was wondering was that how come Amaltas has replaced popcorn. Well, if one is a Chandigarhian then the Amaltas intervention is inevitable. This time, however, it is art prompting one to look at life for a landscape by water colourist Bheem Malhotra brings the colour yellow so alive in quick strokes on the brush.

Peacock’s cry

One of the finest poems using the bright yellow Amaltas blossoms as a metaphor was written way back in the Seventies by Amarjit Chandan, who was then living in Chandigarh’s Sector 15. Lovers of Punjabi poetry will recall the poem well in which a young girl is scared of the storm that will shake away the frail and pale blossoms from the trees but the poet consoles her that after the storm, there will be rain and everything will be fresh and new, even the Amaltas trees. The young girl was his niece and the Amaltas trees lining the road could be seen from his terrace. Amaltas has been living in London the past many years and in this season that should bring rain, one quotes from a more recent poem of his called The Peacock in Walpole Park, Ealing: The heart sinks when the peacock screams/The night bleeds pierced with its cries/ The heart sinks when the peacock screams/It yearns for mango flowers lost long ago/ The heart sinks when the peacock screams/ Weighing its wings in the sweet prison/ Everybody saw it in its cage/ Moaning and dancing. It seems the poet well identifies with the moaning peacock.

Painted bus

Since alliteration guides this week’s game of hop scotch and jump with the letter ‘P’ dominating, let’s move onto the painted bus. The CITCO hop-on-and-hop-off bus does lonely rounds in the afternoon with not a tourist aboard for it is jut too hot to hop anyway. Yes, our Amaltas painter Bheem painted the bus with motifs of the city. And the job took 25 days and bright acrylic paints and a lot of talent.

— Nirupama Dutt

FILM AND FASHION
Any Taker for Morrison’s book?

The last handwritten journal of Jim Morrison, the lead singer of American rock group ‘The Doors’ will be put under the hammer at the end of this month. The rock icon, who died of a drug overdose on July 3, 1971, in a bathtub in Paris left a book with his final thoughts, songs and poems. The book contains 20 pages of his last handwritten musings, stanzas, poems and lyrics, and will be accompanied by one of the final photographs ever taken of him. Also included are variant versions of published Morrison poems The Ancient Ones and The Hitchhiker. It is being auctioned at Cooper Owen’s Music Legends sale at Abbey Road Studios in London on 28 July and estimated to be worth between $ 148,000 and $ 180,000 dollars, reports Contactmusic.

Chocolates make Uma tick

Chocolates are what make Hollywood beauty Uma Thurman tick, and she makes sure the reserves of her favourite British Thorntons chocolates never runs out. Thurman stocks up on Thorntons whenever she’s in the UK, and especialy loves champagne truffles. “Uma said that she always stocks up on chocolate over here because it’s not the same in America”, the Sun quoted a source at the studio in Nottingham, as saying. The Kill Bill star even munched on them during a recent TV interview to promote her new film Prime. She was also handed a box of her favourite goodies during the chat and shared them with the reporter on Central News.

Oprah’s new year bash

South Africa’s tourism industry is apparently going to make major profits as the country readies itself to welcome 2007 with an exclusive New Year’s Eve party, hosted by none other than the talk show queen, Oprah Winfrey. The media mogul is planning to celebrate the arrival of next year, by throwing a star-studded party in the Rainbow Nation, and according to Winfrey insiders, the star is inviting 100 of her closest celebrity pal to ring in 2007 with her and the party’s chief guest Nelson Mandela, the country’s former President. Other merry-makers on Winfrey’s list are likely to include Julia Roberts, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. — ANI