Hi to Heer After 35 years, late S. N. Dar’s English rendition of Waris Shah’s Heer-Ranjha has finally been translated into English. The work will now take the rural magnificence of Punjab and the ultimate love story to a global audience, says Ashwini Bhatnagar Some attempts have been made to render Waris Shah’s Heer-Ranjha into English but none of them could engage the reader sufficiently. Sant Singh Sekhon’s translation was published in 1978.`A0 It is clearly an uninspired effort that lacked fidelity to the spirit and soul of the original verse. Sekhon was apparently rendering into another tongue the dead letter of Waris Shah’s heart-wrenching poem. Richard Temple attempted another translation of the love-legend but it was not Waris Shah’s Heer but the story as narrated by "some Jatts of Patiala state." The translation in verse had appeared sometime early last century. Charles Frederick Usborne’s narration of The Adventures of Heer and Ranjha—Recounted in Punjabi by Waris Shah follows the original text carefully and is used the world over as standard text on this poem. However, Usborne (died 1919) did not venture into verse.

MATKA CHOWK
Rain dance
It’s nice to see the sun shine after the prolonged rains. While it poured and water filled the side streets, I couldn’t help but observe the ‘rain behaviour’ of the citizens. In a city where it is sufficient to own only one umbrella, this was an unusual time marked by uncharacteristic deeds. While driving out in a steady downpour, even the most compulsive, obsessive honkers, decided to give honking a break. Many hesitated to turn on headlights during the day – although they have no qualms about driving on high beam all the time!

Fit as a fiddle
Simmi, former journalist, now has stars exercising to her tunes
Smriti Sharma
Are you looking for ways to battle it out with your unwanted bulge? If yes, fitness trainer Simmi Sukhija is here to give you tips to get rid of that unwanted flab. A product of the Department of Mass Communication, Panjab University, being a fitness trainer was perhaps the last thing on this Punjabi Kudi’s mind, who was doing well as a reporter-researcher with Time magazine in the New Delhi bureau for South Asia. As luck would have it, marriage and kids happened that left her overweight and chubby.

Health Peg
CHOCOboost for your brain
Eating chocolate could do more than tantalising your taste buds for a new research has revealed that chocolate could help to sharpen up the mind and give a short-term boost to cognitive skills. A study led by Professor Ian Macdonald found that consumption of a cocoa drink rich in flavanols, a key ingredient of dark chocolate, boosts blood flow to key areas of the brain for two to three hours.

This little star wants to be a teacher when she grows up 
Shreya’s andar ki baat
Smriti Sharma
She comes across as vivacious and bubbly, just like her numerous television advertisements. Like any other nine-year-old child, she has dreams in her eyes and a song on her lips. Meet child artist Shreya Sharma who began her tryst with television when she was all of three years.

Haywire
Sale, sense and sanity 
Chetna Keer Banerjee
One man’s bargain is another man’s pain. As the shopkeepers all over the city seek to maximise their footfalls with the end-of-season sales, it appears that not only is the entire citizenry out on a shopping trip, but tripping all over too.

The good in waste Smriti Sharma Use the better not seen kabaad into something useful by employing some jugaad. Yes, we are referring to the ongoing kabaad se jugaad workshop at Rock Garden. In one part of the Rock Garden, a film crew is in the middle of a shooting with actor Bobby Deol in action, littering the place with all sorts of filth, disposable plates, glasses, cartons, water leaking from the pipes kept to wash utensils on the spot. Moving ahead to the other end is a motley crowd of 50 people, busy chopping vegetables and preparing dals, for an oil free menu.  KITCHEN KATHA: The campaign continues here too as volunteers use up peels and spinach stalks. — Photo by Manoj Mahajan

Board Mantra
Be the pillar of strength
A child’s first school of emotional learning is his family. In this intimate cauldron children learn about their own feelings and the choices they have in reacting to the people they interact. This emotional school operates through not only what parents say but also through what they offer as role models. So parenting is a responsibility and all must accept it seriously.

Grounded performer
Abhay Vakil is part of the young brigade, making a name with the small screen offering them great opportunities. Saara Akash, Palki, Kehna Hai Kuchch Mujhko and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki serials under his belt Abhay has caught the viewer’s eye for his role of a passionate lover in Sahara One Television much-hyped soap Zaara.

The master sings again
His voice has been so much a part of our sensibilities that it comes like a surprise that Bhupinder has not sung for the past one decade. Now there is news to cheer for ghazal buffs as the magical voice is making a come back in not one but two films. Shamir Tandon after having recorded legends like Lataji for Page 3, Ashaji in Corporate, living legend Manna Dey and Jagjit Singh in Umar, has Bhupinder recreating the magic of the Gulzar-RD era as he rendered his voice for Vinod Pande’s Red Swastik and Madhur Bhandarkar’s Traffic Signal.

Ali in Masty
Ali Zafar is young, energetic and making waves with his new album Masty. He has an infectious rhythm when he talks about his music that influences the ones around him. He not only talks about his creations, he actually demonstrates it to you without any instrument.

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