Jalandhar, June 14
The news of Maqbool Fida Hussain’s demise gave India a lot of heavy hearts. As the well-wishers flocked on to TV interviews to deliver precious last words, many eyes welled up with tears and many people regretted the passiveness of the art fraternity when Hussain left the country.

Apart from being a legendary painter who made his own rules and gave India glorious and vibrant art, Hussain touched a lot many lives with his humility, simplicity and childlike vigour.

As the art fraternity and Bollywood remember the legendary genius elsewhere, Jalandhar’s own artistes, who have met him, worked with him or have been strongly inspired by him share their part of the story.

Jalandhar-based painter and sculptor and a lecturer at the APJ College of Fine Arts Basudeb Biswas met Hussain while on a visit to Shantiniketan, Kolkata, for a refresher course in 1996.

“Watching him paint beneath a tree at Kala Bhawan Art College, I was struck by his childlike enthusiasm. He always carried a paintbrush and his strokes were swift,” he said.

Biswas treasures the autograph that he got from Hussain and feels the political repercussions of Hussain’s art were unfortunate. “There is a mural at the Shantiniketan of an Indian Goddess painted in the nude. Nobody objects to it because maybe a few know about it. But Hussain’s paintings caused an uproar. It’s ironic what people chose to react to. He was attached to India till the very end. He did paintings on Mother Teresa, Satyajit Ray, Indian epics and so many other people and issues. His radical approach in painting took Indian art to international heights. It’s very unfortunate that he didn’t get to live his final years in India.”

Pawan, another city-based painter and a teacher at the Apeejay School, has been strongly influenced by MF Hussain.

Pawan holds exhibitions across the country but his integral group of friends, including artists Akhilesh (Bhopal) and the late Mohan Malvia (Indore) were good friends of MF Hussain, so he got to meet him a lot.

The only Jalandhar exhibition to showcase a Hussain painting (Durga) had Pawan playing the role of a co-painter and curator.

“We have done some group exhibitions together. He always encouraged younger artists and used to like my style. ‘Aur pakka karo’, he used to tell me about my work. I have seen him paint six to eight feet canvasses in 10 minutes. We were charmed by his energy.”

City-based artist Amit, who has never met Hussain, is nonetheless one of his biggest fans in the city.

When Hussain had to leave the country, Amit aired his ire through art - a huge 15 by 12 feet B&W water colour portrait of Hussain on the wall of the Virsa Vihar in Jalandhar. But he never got to see it again. “Either the strong winds that night blew it away or it was stolen. It just stuck there for a day, but a day later there was no trace of it.”

When Hussain passed away, Amit did another mural. This time on the wall of the Punjab Press Club, Jalandhar.

“It’s a huge loss and it’s sad that he wasn’t in India during his last moments. I think it was inflated egos and jealousy that he fell prey to. He was and will be a huge source of inspiration, a driving force,” Amit says.

However, talking about the city, Amit rues that it is sad despite having so many groups of artists and painters, Jalandhar artists did not have a single meet or ceremony to pay their last respects to the legendary artist.

Ashwini Verma, a Jalandhar-based painter and a teacher (a President Awardee for the best teacher) got to meet Hussain at Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi in 2004.

“We were having a painting workshop for which he gave us a live demo. He was so humble and saintly. He did not deserve the treatment that he got. One of the most accomplished artist’s of India is gone, the gap that he left can never be filled.”

Jalandhar, June 14
Even as the district administration formally launched the unique identification (UID) card Aadhar registration camps in Jalandhar on June 11, but it has failed to evoke maximum response from the local residents. Reason: Lack of awareness among the masses about the UID cards.

While a section of the educated class has been reaching out to the four UID card registration camps in the district, others seems to be not aware of the UID cards. And those who are approaching the registration camps do not know about the necessary documents required for the same.

Surprisingly, a majority of the local residents have even mistaken these camps for voter registration centres. This despite the fact that the District Food and Supplies Officer, Gulbahar Singh, Nodal Officer of the project, claiming that they held mass awareness camps at the administration, village and block levels from February to March this year.

To begin with the district administration has started four UID card registration camps in the district - Khalsa School, Nakodar Road, Government School in Mohalla Kot Ram Dass, Chowgitti, Buta Pind, Jallowal and Sura Nussi.

The district administration would be putting up additional 64 registration camps in the district while a time frame of around 16 months has been given to the staff to complete the work.

Harnam Singh, a resident of Buta Mandi, who came for inquiry at Khalsa School, Nakodar Road, said, “This is my second visit to the centre. Initially, we mistook this for a voter card registration centre but then somebody told us about the UID card registration. Though I came again today but I am still not clear about its benefits and why they are being made,” he added.

Another local resident, Anuradha Sharma, complained of lack of coordination among the staff registering people. “I got to know about the Aadhar card registration centre through a friend of mine who is working with the Food and Civil Supplies Department. After inquiring all the details when I came to submit the forms they refused to accept the forms on the grounds that the forms should be submitted in the morning,” she added.

When The Tribune team visited one of the UID registration centre it was found that the pamphlets in Punjabi stating “Aadhar - Aam admi da adhikar”, meant for publicity, were lying in a corner, while there were many clearing their queries. However, the staff at the registration centre said that people were reaching out and getting their cards made.

“There is a lot of confusion regarding the UID card registration in the district. The district administration should take help of the local media, make advertisements, put up billboards and inform the local masses in a streamlined manner so that everybody should take its benefits. It seems that the administration started the registration in hurry and without any planning,” said Sandeep Singh, a local shopkeeper.

Suruchi, resident of Guru Nanak Pura, said she was not even aware of UID card registration camp in her area. “Somebody informed me and I reached the government school in my locality, but it was lying closed. I asked the local shopkeepers, but nobody was aware of any such camp being held in the vicinity,” she quipped.

Jalandhar, June 14
A look at the admission trends in Class XI in schools, affiliated with the CBSE, this year indicates a major shift in the preference of students. The beeline for the non-medical stream now seems to be on the decline with students showing more inclination towards commerce and medical streams.

The admission records also point out that the humanities stream, which had been sidelined for the past more than five years, has got a little fillip this year with students showing interest in subjects like geography, economics and psychology.

School principals have varied reasons to explain the end of the dominance of the non-medical stream.

Harbhajan Kaur, principal of Swami Sant Dass School, said, “Students feel that they have a wider range of options in the commerce stream as in insurance, banking, accountancy and even business administration while with non-medical, they can only pursue engineering.”

She added, “With hundreds of colleges churning out thousands of BTech students each year, parents are foreseeing less scope of a good placement for their wards without MTech or MBA degree. They think that if they have to invest so much time and money, why not invest in commerce or medical streams which could be more paying.”

The school has got 37 students this year in the medical stream as compared to just 17 last year. The number of commerce students has gone up to 94 from 64 last year. There were 79 students last year in non-medical for which there are 67 this time.

Satwant Kaur Gakhal, principal, MGN Public School, also pointed towards a reverse in trend. “We had one section of medical stream and three of non-medical last year with 45 to 50 students each. This time there are one and a half section for medical and two and a half for non-medical. For the same reason, we had to change our timetable that we had planned before admissions. The strength of commerce also went up and we had to refuse admission in this stream. Humanities, for which there were just 13 students last year, got 35 students and we had to make it co-educational (unlike till last years) for there were boys as well showing keenness.”

Rashmi Vij, principal, Police DAV Public School, also mentioned that the toppers were now shifting towards commerce stream which had seen 30-40 per cent more preference.

Jalandhar, June 14
A painting workshop on oil pastels and soft pastels was held at the Virsa Vihar here from June 10 to 12. Painter Tejinder Ladi, who recently held a painting exhibition in the city, gave lessons in oil pastels, soft pastels and charcoals.

His disciples, mainly comprising people impressed by his painting exhibition (especially his vibrant pastels), had asked him to hold a workshop since they wanted lessons in his different technique.

Manmeet, city-based architect and interior designer, said, “His style had something unique about it, so I had been interested in a workshop by him ever since I saw his exhibition. It has been a great learning experience.”

Navpreet, an engineer, said, “His technique is amazing. I have passion for painting and do oil painting as a hobby, but this was a very different experience.”

Though the workshop was attended by just eight people, Ladi insisted that there was reason for it. “We got requests from many children too but they wouldn’t have been able to pick up the lessons so we stuck to the grownups. Based on my own paintings, I gave lessons in the use and understanding of pastels, understanding perspective and light and shades. Those concepts would have been too complex for children to pick up.”

Three silhouettes pitted against a bright light walk on a wet road as it is coloured by multi-hued reflections. That’s what he paints on a canvas for his students to pick up. Indeed, that would have been a difficult one for children.

However, he did agree that the response from Jalandhar could have been better. “In Ludhiana, where we recently held a workshop, I got 22 students. There were housewives, accessory designers and professionals. The numbers are relatively limited here.”

Insiders have revealed that Justin Timberlake's ex-girlfriend Jessica Biel and her Total Recall co-star, and Irish bad boy Colin Farrell, may be more than just friends.

The couple reportedly got close to each other during the filming of the remake of the action flick in Toronto.

"She's completely over Justin, she's having fun being single and thinks Colin is a blast. They've been hanging out between takes and Colin's suggested they go out after work," the Daily Mail quoted a source as saying. "Jessica loves Colin's accent and personality," the source added. Biel, 29, had split from Timberlake, following which she struck up a friendship with the actor. — ANI 

Nakodar, June 14
Hundreds of workers, including women, of the Dihati Majdoor Sabha, Punjab, along with the representatives of the state unit of the CPM organised a march here today and later gathered at Gagan Surjit Park where they commemorated the 20th death anniversary of the martyrs of the party, including Surjit Singh Nakodar, Varinder Gagan, Satpal Komwala, Surjit Komwala and Punjab Police constable Girdari Bal.

Workers were carrying red flags along with placards having slogans against soaring prices and corruption written on them. General secretary of the Punjab unit of the CPM Mangat Ram Pasla, while speaking on the occasion, said they would not let the sacrifices of the martyrs go waste and dreams of martyrs would surely come true.

He said the wealth that should be spent on education, development and on health was being swallowed by the series of scams, corporate loot and black money promoted by the Manmohan Singh government.

He lamented that instead of catching corrupt people, government was cane-charging those who protest against corrupt practices. He also lashed out at the SAD-BJP government for not fulfilling the promises made during the elections.

Family members of the martyrs were also present.

Jalandhar, June 14
The Chamar Mahan Sabha yesterday urged the Punjab Government to withdraw the “false” police cases registered against around 1,800 members of the comunity during the post-Vienna incident violence in the state.

President of the sabha Paramjit Singh Kainth, who was here to lead a symbolic hunger strike and protest organised by its members in front of the Deputy Commissioner office, said the state government had unleashed a reign of atrocities on the Schedule Caste community and booked its members under false cases.

Further lambasting the state government of double standards, Kainth said the state government had failed to appoint any Chamar as a Cabinet minister, DIG, Vice-Chancellor in any of the universities and a Mayor in any of the municipal corporations.

He also claimed that the state government failed to release sufficient funds for the Guru Ravidass Chairs set up in two universities in the state.

Further talking about the 85th Amendment to the Constitution which relates to the in-service promotion benefits of the Scheduled Castes officers/officials, he said the sabha had approached Chairman of the National Scheduled Castes Commission P.L. Punia in New Delhi on May 9 in this regard.

The sabha highlighted that owing to the wrong policies of the state government about Rs 6092.62 crore central grants meant for the welfare of the members of the Scheduled Castes under the Scheduled Caste sub-plan stood either lapsed or misused. “This issue has been raised with the Prime Minister and a thorough probe demanded by the Sabha,” he added.

Kainth added that the sabha would submit a memorandum to the Punjab Governor against the state government for not safeguarding the interests of the SC community in the state.

Jalandhar, June 14
Guru Amar Dass Public School, Model Town, organised a free 10-day summer camp from June 1 to 10 on its premises in which the students were trained in art and craft, bhangra, vocal music, volleyball, table tennis, chess, badminton, yoga and computers.

On the last day of the summer camp, an exhibition of art and craft was held in which the students displayed their creativity.

Jalandhar, June 14
The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, GND University Regional Campus, has decided to offer master of journalism and mass communication (MJMC) honours degree from the coming academic session. Earlier the department was providing a two-year MJMC course.

Head of the department Dr Kamlesh Singh Duggal said the degree would be an advanced course from the one offered in various colleges and institutes in the region. “During the two-year programme the students would get a chance to specialise in their field of interest during the last six months. This change was introduced by GND University Vice-Chancellor Dr A.S. Brar keeping in mind the media industry demands and the need to offer more specialisation to students,” he added.

Dr Duggal said the admissions to the MJMC (Honours) would remain open till June 30 for all candidates with graduation in any discipline and a minimum of 50 per cent marks. “Since last year, the admission process has been made online and the candidates can log on to www.gnduadmissions.org or contact the department for further information,” he added.

Jalandhar, June 14
Known for the shanty surroundings and poor sanitary hygiene, the poor colonies of the Jalandhar city, inhabited largely by the migrant population, are the only remaining hubs of the leprosy, a disease, which, besides its pathological debilitation, also carries social stigma with itself.

Nearly 90 per cent of the total cases currently getting anti-leprosy treatment in the district hail from such localities. Of the hundreds of cases detected across the district, a good number of such cases are from Avtar Nagar, Basti Bawa Khel, Kazi Mandi, Focal Point, Randhawa Masanda and Gadaipur localities, inhabited by migrant labourers.

Dr Ashwani Gupta, District Leprosy Officer, said such migrants residing in such poor colonies carry the disease with them from their parent states. Of the total 51 patients currently getting treatment under the National Leprosy Eradication Programme in the city, more than 90 per cent patients are either migrants or those living closely with the patients in such localities.

“However, much to our relief, the prevalence of leprosy has seen a marked decrease in the past few years. Till a few yeas ago, we used to detect around 125-150 cases every year. However, only 65 cases were detected in the district during the last year,” said Dr Gupta.

He said to eradicate the stigmatic disease from such colonies, a large number of special camps were routinely organised to detect the leprosy cases in its initial stages. Early diagnosis was essential to prevent the bone deformity, a piteous sequel of the disease, he added.

Besides, free reconstructive surgery camps were also organised at an interval of six months to surgically treat the lepers suffering from bone deformity, said Dr Gupta.

Jalandhar, June 14
It’s that rare demolition drive that has left shopkeepers smiling. A stretch of the old GT Road on Jyoti Chowk - one of oldest and most important landmarks of the city - is all set to be widened to an 80-feet road by the Jalandhar Development Authority.

The JDA plans to demolish shops of the Red Cross Market at the chowk and move the shopkeepers to a newly-built complex at the back of the market. All the encroachments on the stretch would also be removed, giving way to a wide road.

It would be for the first time in ages that Jyoti Chowk (named so after the Jyoti Theatre that earlier existed here) - which has previously housed a tonga stand and has also been home to a Tibetan Market that later shifted - would see the unravelling of such an ambitious project.

Plans for a shopping plaza and a multi-storied parking are also underway.

Since the area, which formerly housed the old courts and office of the Senior Superintendent of Police, currently lies vacant, the JDA has an 8-acre land at its disposal.

The 32 shopkeepers with shops on the GT Road would be shifted to the new complex, on which 64 shops have been constructed, while the shops on the road would be demolished.

The decision will have adverse effects on only one group of people - the encroachers.

Pardeep Kumar, a vendor of currency note-garlands says, “Our entire family has been running vends here for the past many years. I have been here for the last 40 years. It would be difficult since we will have to hunt for a new place and the availability for such a place is scarce.”

Satinder, who runs a shoe vend says, “We talked to the authorities to consider a place for us in the new complex but since we have no existing shop of our own, they are not giving us a patient hearing. We don’t know where we will get our bread and butter from if the vends are removed.”

Though some of them also sadly agree that since they are squatters, they can’t complain.

The shopkeepers in the area, in stark contrast, think the change would be very beneficial for them. “We have been in the current shop for the past 15-20 years. Though we do think it will take time for things to settle down. Ultimately, the shift would benefit us all,” says Anil, a shopkeeper of footwear.

Neeraj Nanda, owner of another footwear shop, says, “The shift will be good for us. The shops which we move in to, will be relatively spacious and will have a show room feel.”

JDA Chief Additional Administrator Harbir Singh says, “The market is all set for a shift. As soon as the shops in the new complex get an electricity connection, the owners will be shifted and the shops will be demolished soon after. If we get the connections on time it shouldn’t take more than a week for the entire shifting to take place.”