Jalandhar, October 14
It is celebration time for a close-knit group of 51 families. Local residents, all of them hail from West Bengal. While the men dress up in cotton silk kurtas, women in tanth sarees, as they get together for the Durgotsav being organised by the Jalandhar Kali Bari on the premises of the Jalandhar Photographers Association.

Saptami puja was held this morning, followed by a bhoj of khichdi and labra (mashed, mixed vegetables like brinjal, spinach and potato) in the afternoon. A cultural programme was held in the evening.

The families will re-assemble tomorrow morning for the ashtmi puja. “Women will jointly prepare prasad comprising cut fruits, kheer and sweet yellow rice (sheerni) and the menfolk will take care of other arrangements.”

There will be contests for women who play shankh and sing ulu-lu-lu for the longest duration. “There will be activities for children such as drawing and painting making of scenes related to the Durga puja,” Mamta Ganguly, a member and teacher at Police DAV Public School, listed out the schedule.

There will be a cultural programme again in the evening, wherein men, women and children will enact scenes from mythology, sing hymns and devotional songs.

The members said there will be Navmi puja and sandhya aarti on Saturday. “Dashmi puja is marked with visarjan of the idols in the Beas. Getting back, we burn the effigy of Ravana,” said Kalpana Dass.

Jalandhar Kali Bari general secretary Rajat Mukherjee said the members were now planning to construct a Ma Kali Mandir so as to have a permanent place of worship.

The association plans to hold Lakshmi puja, Kali puja, Saraswati puja, Nava Barsha and Rabindra Jayanti on October 22, November 5, February 8, April 15 and May 9, respectively.

Jalandhar, October 14
With the setting sun, the interiors of the old city areas wear a pious look. From the starlit surroundings and idyllic bhajans to the lifelike presentation of the Ramayana, people enjoy their evenings with the theatrical Ram Leela.

The lavish sets of the Ram Leela, coupled with the pious feeling of Ayodhya, provide an ideal platform to audience, especially oldies, to connect with their roots.

And despite routine chores, everybody ensures that they spare some time between 9 pm and midnight to bask in the religious ambience.

Even Bollywood director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, in his film Delhi 6, depicted Ram Leela in the old Delhi areas. Though many critics had mentioned about an overdose of Ram Leela, Mehra termed it as an integral part of society, which reflects the Indian culture.

While there are oldies who have been witnessing the mythological drama since their childhood, many others boast of having participated in it too.

Kirti Bhushan, owner of Rama-Krishna Natya Mandal, Jalandhar cantonment, said he had participated in the Ram Leela for 27 years consecutively.

“From enacting the character of Lord Rama during my youth, to conducting it presently, it has been a long association. I can recite quotes from the Ramayana and ensure that we stage it every year,” he added.

Bhushan claims he has passed the family legacy to his sons. “Now both my sons participate in Ram Leela. My elder son Harsh Mehta enacts the role of Lord Rama, while the younger one, Yatharth, plays the character of Bharata,” he maintained.

However, many people regret that youngsters don’t turn up in large numbers to witness the Ram Leela.

A majority of the senior citizens blame the rising trend of the use of CDs and DVDs of the Ramayana and it being telecast on television for this shift in interest.

The president of the Jai Jagdambey Ma Dramatic Club, Northern Railway, P.D. Sharma, who is conducting Ram Leela in Railway Colony, said they had ample open space in their colony to conduct the mythological epic.

Ram Leela, coupled with the religious couplets from Ramcharitmanas, receives an overwhelming response from the audience,” he added.

The Jagdambey group has been enacting Ram Leela for the past five years.

Jalandhar, October 14
A newborn boy was allegedly taken away by an unidentified woman from his house in the Ladhewali locality this noon.

The incident occurred when the infant’s parents Willi and her husband Anil Kumar, hailing from Jharkhand, reached their rented accommodation after being discharged from the Civil Hospital.

Anil went to inform his neighbours about the arrival of the new member of his family, while his wife was at home.

Jalandhar, October 14
The hardships and extreme levels of racial discrimination, which Punjabis faced in the late 1940s and early 1950s after their migration to the UK will now be recorded in a book.

An 85-year old NRI from Paragpur village here, Makhan Singh, who perhaps was one of the first Indians to migrate to the UK, revealed this during his visit to his native place.

He said a book on migrant workers in Borough was being created by the Kent Equality Cohesion Council there. He said nearly 60 Punjabis would figure in the book, recounting their initial problems.

He said council chairman Gurvinder Sandher, who has been fighting cases in the interest of Indian migrants, had told him that a book, website and an exhibition on the issue would be written and launched by him some time in December.

The trailblazer said he had gone to the UK in 1949. Recalling the difficulties he passed through, he said, “I remember going to a bar with my English friend where we ordered two drinks. The bartender served my friend and not me. I was told to go to a public bar. We faced a lot of oppression, but had no option but to remain mum.” He added, “It was later during the 1960s that a law to curb discrimination was brought which helped us fight against any social menace.”

The octogenerian said, “We were given very menial jobs - the kind no one in the UK was ready to take up. I worked in a paper mill for a long time, then in a road laying firm and later in a building construction company.”

But things have slowly changed, he said. “It is due to our efforts that the next generation is able to live a comfortable life. Now we are coming up with a gurdwara at Grevesend, for which our community has contributed 20 million pounds,” Roy smiled.

Jalandhar, October 14
The prices of vegetables witnessed a decrease this week.

Although the prices of onion and potato remained the same as that of last week, items like tomato, capsicum, lady’s finger, peas and garlic saw a fall in prices this week.

Capsicum and lady’s finger remained at Rs 60 and Rs 34 per kg, respectively, against Rs 70 and Rs 40 last week. Similarly, garlic also witnessed a decrease of Rs 20 per kg and was reduced to Rs 180 per kg against Rs 200 last week.

The prices of cauliflower and peas also came down this week and both the items were sold at Rs 30 and 90 per kg, respectively, this week against Rs 35 and Rs 110 per kg last week.

On the other side, the prices of lemon and beans witnessed an increase in prices and the prices of arbi and smooth gourd remained the same as that of last week.

Kapurthala, October 14
A two-member delegation from the United Kingdom visited Bawa Lalvani Public School under the global school partnership programme here today.

The main objective behind the visit of Liam Nolan and Debbi Allen was to share their experience with the staff and students of various educational institutions of India to upgrade the education system and introduce new techniques.

Ten schools from Punjab have been selected under this programme and the principal of Bawa Lalvani School Jaspal Gill is the head of the southern cluster of schools.

After welcoming the UK delegation in a traditional way, the two members were taken to the heritage room, where pictures, old coins and statues depicting Indian heritage were shown to them. The team also visited the E-block lab, techkids lab, art room and music room.

Students performed traditional dances of Punjab, including bhangra and giddha. Later, the delegation was taken to various historical places of Kapurthala, including Sainik School and Panch Mandir.

Jalandhar, October 14
NASSCOM’s NAC tech sensitisation programme was organised by Punjab Infotech on the campus of Lovely Professional University, in which staff from various technical colleges of the state participated.

About one lakh candidates are expected to take part in the test next year, the details of which were discussed with the training and placement officials, deans, senior professors, principals, senior lecturers from the B.Tech and MCA streams of the technical colleges.

Serving as a watchdog to the 32 endorsing companies, NASSCOM has been giving a neutral third-party assessment report on students’ skill levels on the basis of the test while helping them seek placement.

Elaborating on the details of the programme, Avneet Bajaj, senior manager education initiative, NASSCOM, said, “National assessment of competency-technical (NAC Tech) is a national-level assessment programme for engineering students to benchmark entry level skills in the industry. It will evaluate candidates on their communication and analytical abilities as well as technical skills. The test has been developed in consultation with IT industry experts. It has two parts. The mandatory part A tests verbal ability, analytical reasoning, learning ability, programming and written English skills, whereas part B is optional and has tests depending on the specialisation field of the candidate.”

Bajaj further said, “It will also be beneficial for the companies, making it easier for them to screen candidates in accordance with their needs and saving lakhs of rupees spent on the tests and trainings for the ones who join it.”

Jalandhar, October 14
Jyotika Prabhakar, a student B.Com-III of Apeejay College, was awarded “Dr Stya Paul Award for human values” on the occasion of the founder’s day of the college on October 13.

The college authorities paid floral tributes to its former Chairman late Dr Stya Paul. A special documentary on Dr Stya Paul prepared by students of multimedia was also shown.

Jalandhar, October 14
The Baba Banda Singh Bahadur International Foundation has demanded that Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) should be renamed as Baba Banda Bahadur Singh Agricultural University.

Foundation president Krishan Kumar Bawa, senior vice-president Mann Singh Dham and general secretary Inderjeet Singh Sidhu said here that a chair should be set up after the name of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur at PAU and PAU should also be renamed as Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

The representatives of the foundation asked the Punjab Government to declare regular holiday instead of restricted holiday on Baba Banda Singh Bahadur’s birth anniversary on October 16. Bawa and Sidhu said the foundation would hold functions in Ludhiana and Sangrur on October 15 and 16, respectively, to mark his birth anniversary. — TNS

Jalandhar, October 14
Keeping in view the forthcoming Assembly elections in Punjab, the National Students Union of India (NSUI) has started activities to strengthen its base in the state.

If everything goes according to the plan of its leaders, the NSUI, the students’ wing of the Congress, will have its first formally elected state president by November 25.

Stating this, NSUI national general secretary and in charge of its Punjab affairs Amrita Dhawan said the process of holding its elections had already been started with the initiation of membership drive in the state from October 1. The membership drive would continue in 1,611 colleges of all 20 districts till October 31, she said, adding that the election of the college presidents, district presidents and state president would be held.

The state had been divided into three zones - Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda - to ensure smooth and fair elections, she added.