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FM
EXPLOSION
Dust your old radio sets and get ready to be entertained like never before for the city is heading for a big bang time on FM, reports
Parbina Rashid
One of the major high six-year-old Armaan Luthra had experienced in his life was when he tuned into Radio Mirchi in his tiny black and white football-shaped radio, a gift from his Germany-returned aunt at the Delhi airport. His joy, however, did not last long. Soon after crossing Panipat, the peppy songs were replaced by some Punjabi host talking non-stop on agricultural problems in Punjab, courtesy the All India Radio. That was the last time Armaan ever tuned into his radio. Now, his proud possession has found its place in the junkyard.
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HER MASTER’S VOICE: Hardeep S. Chandpuri trains a radio jockey.
— Photo by Parvesh Chauhan |
MY O’ MY FM: Richa Sharma the youngest station head in the city.
— Photo by Pradeep Tewari |
For the love of radio
S. D. Sharma
Sunita Bhatti’s fascination with radio goes back to her childhood days when she used to sit before the small family radio set and wondered how somebody could somebody hide in the set and sing those melodious songs. The memory still brings colour to her face when she goes for recordings at the studios of All-India Radio or Doordarshan Jallandher.
“The Punjabi folk and pop music had made waves the world over but only a few female singers had emerged as the icons in this male dominated realm,” says, Sunita Bhatti while sharing her struggles and achievements with the Lifetstyle.
With no family legacy Sunita, as a student at Arya Girls School, Patiala, nurtured the passion of singing and her mentor and Ustad Hira Lal sharpened her musical and theatrical traits.
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SINGING SENSATION: Sunita Bhatti
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Just JUTE
Parbina Rashid
The early memory of seeing jute goes back to a childhood trip to an obscure town called Hajo in Assam, with inhabitants that were mostly of Bengal origin. But the jute one got to see there were not on a loom or ultra-chic bags or but the raw materials submerged in the Sesha river, a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra. The floating golden fibres attached to ivory -coloured slim stems remained etched in one’s mind.
GOLDEN FIBRE: Artifacts made of jute on display in the city. — Photo
by Manoj Mahajan |
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Love you Piya
Anuradha Shukla
Piya Sharma was just nine when she passed away but the love she shared with her family led her family pour it onto hundreds of slum women and children, touching their lives and helping them change for the better through the Piya Sharma Charitable Trust and Foundation. Now when her sister Pooja Sharma Passi running the NGO sees nine-year old girls giggling and smiling confidently in Rajiv and Indira colonies in Panchkula, in their new lives, her heart thanks Piya to keep her going. Established in 1989, Pooja took charge in 1997. On Piya’s birthday on January 31 of this month the NGO is going to set foot in Zirakpur, Punjab.
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HOPSCOTCH
The Village Story
The story of the Indian village is one of change, development or migration to the cities; home and abroad. If the purvia is ever ready to move to Punjab, the Punjabi village youth has his eyes on Vancouver, London or Sydney. The village as of old that could hold and sustain its old and young is something that we can just turn to in our minds or go and look for it art and literature. When change is quick in a society and people are left grappling with it, the writer or the artist is required to fill the gap not just for nostalgia sake but also as a link in the chain of continuity. One can recall many verses that speak of the change in various Indian languages.
FLASHBACK: Veiled woman, a painting by Prem Singh. |
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Role Models
Akanksha Bansal
There are people who take the usual path to their destination, but then there are those who dare to be different and set standards for others to follow. They tread along the same path juggling different activities, and realising their social responsibility at the same time. They walk ahead not for their selfish purpose but with the motive to serve the society.
Three such city students have been awarded for their unusual gait by the Vivekananda Study Circle.
WINSOME THREESOME: Nosheen Kapoor, Varun Jindal and Shivani Kapoor. |
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Kala Maitri goes places
| When the first alumni association of the Government College of Art was formed in April last year, it created ripples, if not waves; and not always for the right reasons. But within this short span of time the association has proved itself and now it is actually going places – to Rohtak to start with.
Rohtak, as one learns, has had its fair share of photographers and media personalities – S. Paul, Yog Joy and Shekhar Gupta, being the most prominent ones. So it’s heartening to know that this tiny town is now ready to embrace art too.
“When we had organised Kala Maitri’s first exhibition, the idea to bring it down to the district level was conceived,” says Baljit Singh, the ’81-batch pass out of the Government College of Art who is now heading the Fine Arts Department in Government College for Women in Rohtak.
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Uttaranchal talent
Ghar Ek Sapna is the talk of the town today. Everyone is curious about who is playing the lead character Samman. This popular serial is directed by Astitva-Ek Prem Kahani fame Ajai Sinha. Viewers of recently launched Sahara One Television new soap Ghar Ek Sapna will identify him as Ujjawal Rana, the young handsome actor from Delhi. Few would know that before this actor found fame, he got recognition in Ravi Rai’s popular serial Aaj Bhi Ateet in 2001. It was Ujjawal Rana’s debut serial.
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Party Time
It was party time at Sri Krishna Institute of IT and Management in Sector 35. And guess who added the zing to it? None other than Frainy Ahuja, Miss India first runner up-2006. If the students raveled in her company, then so did she, gyrating to the latest Bollywood and Punjabi songs. In her won words, “I had a good time dancing with the students.”
Miss India Frainy Ahuja (right) at a party with students of Sri Krishna Institute of IT and Management.
— Photo Parvesh Chauhan |
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Black is beautiful
Exploring the theme of ‘Black is Beautiful’ beyond the conventional world of colours, let’s continue to create vibrancy in our interiors with our monochrome colour palette.
Beige and cream may be the most bland ones in the colour wheel; however, they offer numerous exciting opportunities to create interiors as vibrant or as elegant that you may possibly imagine.
YOUTH SPEAK
Lost childhood
Children are a nation’s wealth. They are tomorrow’s institutions. The reins of the nation would be in their hands tomorrow. We have the power to fulfill all our needs as children today go to good schools. The nation has become efficient in tackling all sorts of problems. We compete world class in all spheres. Yet while thinking of the sight on roadsides and streets a picture of starved, begging children comes before ones eyes.
NEW RELEASES
Neta back as abhineta
This week there is a medium budget film, Risk, belonging to a different genre and subject. The film will be released at Neelam, Chandigarh and Fun Republic, Manimajra today. It is an action thriller. The director of Ram Gopal Verma’s thriller D Vishram Sawant directs his second movie Risk. It is a song-less film, stark and realistic where MP Gurdaspur, Vinod Khanna, stages a comeback as the Bangkok based don. So, the Risk brings the neta back as abhineta.
FILM & FASHION
Family girl Jollie
Angelina Jolie has been pretty open about the fact that she wants a large family with beau Brad Pitt.
However, when she faced a few more questions about the topic on the red carpet at the Golden Globes recently, the actress got quite a bee in her bonnet.
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