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A different ball game
The city grounds are now home to distinctive, intriguing and novel sports,
writes Purva Grover
For as long as one can remember, we have seen children playing cricket in the narrow galis or shooting baskets on the boards installed in the neighbourhood parks. Grown up on an over dosage of the popular, much-liked and regular games; the city is now all set to redefine sports. One can spot trees dotted with targets, girls heading to buy punching bags, kids imitating the antics of Krissh and the youth playing the fashionable game of softball. Here’s a peek into what’s new and interesting with the sport stars of the city.
Treasure Trove
Relics of the past
Ravi Bhasin’s home is as good as a museum
Peacocks from the Mughal period beckon from the roof-top as we reach his home in Panchkula. Most people refer to his house as the moroin wali
kothi. Next, to catch our attention are the wooden fans (1882) in the lobby. Just two traces of history and we are hooked on till the ding-dong of a 19th century grandfather clock brings us back to time.
Ravi Bhasin invites us to the living room and we find ourselves sitting on a 250-year-old maharaja sofa. Right behind us is a sirhana (backrest) that probably belongs to one of the Sikh gurus. Trying to trace the history behind the exquisite piece with rich meenakari work, he says, “The day I find it out, I will donate it to the Golden Temple.” He also has a Sikh wall clock (1882) with original painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
A journey spread over past 40 years, Bhasin procured his first treasure
as an 11- year-old when he was gifted gold and silver coins by his
grandfather. And, thereafter began his quest for the old and the rare.
And, as they say the rest is history.
Ravi Bhasin sits on a 250-yr-old maharaja’s chair.
— Photo by Parvesh Chauhan |
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Not a blooming business
Saurabh Malik
Flower business in the city is not blooming because so many residents prefer to express their affection through synthetic flowers imported all the way from Hong Kong; but also for the reason that organised market for cut flowers is yet to blossom in the city.
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Win-win situation
If you have a mobile phone, or an Internet connection, companies or institutions will bestow you
with the title
of a judge instantaneously, says Saurabh Malik
You don’t have to perfect that classic action of covering your visage with manicured hands before letting out that synthetic shriek of faux surprise.
What’s more, you are just not required to join in the game of recalling mugged-up names of pals and pets you need to thank for taking you to new heights. For, so many consumer-goods and other companies are nowadays showering the title of judge on almost everyone.
Whose baby is it?
Parbina Rashid
Passing the buck on seems to be the mantra at a city gallery
Can art induce a headache? The answer is yes. That’s what the latest exhibition at IndusInd Bank Art Gallery did to us. Here goes the story.
We got a telephonic invitation to cover the exhibition on Day 2. So, when we walked into the gallery we did not expect to catch the artist in person, but were hopeful of at least a little backgrounder on him or her. But the invitation card lying carelessly on the reception desk said precious little – “Bimla Sharma wife of late Dr Bharat Bhushan Sharma cordially invites you on the occasion of Bharat Bhushan Memorial Painting Exhibition”
— and that Prem Sharma, director of the Himachal Academy of Art
and Culture. |
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Joy of teaching
The thrust is once again on making classroom education a joyful affair. And when CEVA is involved, one can expect a lot of enthusiasm and drama. Their latest innovation is a series of puppet shows to make the learning process interesting for children between the ages of two and three.
The first two shows were conducted at Tender Heart School, Sector 33. And, looking at the children savouring every bit of information disseminated by the live and thermocol puppets can be a cue for the teaching faculty to carry out such experiments at regular intervals.
Live puppets teach counting to the
tinytots. — Photo by Parvesh Chauhan |
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Pride of Punjab
Remembering the pathos king
S. D. Sharma
Joban rutte jo bhi marda phull bane jan tara, Joban rutte aashiq marde, jan koi karma wala
Some poets become conscious of their special providence at an early age life, visualising both a calling and destiny in their poetry. But, for a few blessed ones life itself becomes an extended exercise in poetic perceptions. Born to give an altogether new dimension to Punjabi poetry, Shiv Kumar Batalavi emerged on the literary firmament of Punjabi literary world and remained its all time pride.
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PICTURE |
DRESSED TO KILL: Four Poodles take part in a photo shoot at the
Shanghai Wild Animal Park in China.
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popular ART |
A visitor points at a sculpture of a bearded man and Spiderman at Australian artist Stephen Birch’s show in
Sydney. Birch’s sculptures of fiberglass resin play with scale on objects from popular culture and mythology. |
SIDELANES
Is it curtains for our fauna?
Joyshri Lobo
The honking was unmistakable. It sounded like the gaggle of geese I had left in the tender but bemused care of Brother Carrol at St. James, Binnaguri in West Bengal. They were a rambunctious, noisy lot who produced equally garrulous, hysterical goslings.
Like a well trained commando platoon, they hid in the bushes and charged, necks outstretched, hissing like enraged, winged snakes, in a bid to nip the nearest ankle that walked in through the gate.
New Releases:
Yaatra, Spiderman
Embark on an offbeat journey
Director: Gautam Ghose
*ing: Rekha, Nana Patekar, Deepti Naval, Nakul Vaid
National award winner Gautam Ghose is back with an off-beat Hindi film
Yaatra. The film is about how fiction meets facts. Rekha play the role of
Lajbanti, a courtesan who brings about the catharsis in the given ambience. Nana
Patekar, Deepti Naval and Nakul Vaid also play important characters.
Bruce still loves Demi
Bruce Willis recently revealed that he still loves his ex-wife Demi Moore and considers her hubby Ashton Kutcher to be part of his extended family. “We still raise our kids together, we still have that bond,” said the Die-hard actor.
The 51-year-old, who recently welcomed Moore and Kutcher into his home on the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, asserted that he still loved Demi and also praised Kutcher.
youth speak
Save environment
Rohit Ruhella
Global warming is the result of our negligence. I live in this city and every day I see people burning garbage, wastage of drinking water at public places and electricity being wasted away. It pains me to see such wastage. In most of the areas, sweepers gather the garbage and burn it later. At many places waters running from the public taps. I do not know whom to contact. Even if I have managed todo so , the answer is — ‘this is not the right place to inform’.
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