EDUCATION

Ish Kumar tops city Class X CBSE 
exam with 93.4 per cent
From Monica Sharma

LUDHIANA, June 3 — Ish Kumar Garg, a student of BCM Arya Model School, has topped in the Class X CBSE examination in the city by scoring 93.4 per cent marks, while Gurjeet Kaur, a student of Guru Nanak Public School, has come a close second by scoring just 0.2 per cent marks less than him.

The third place has gone to Harsimrat Kaur Grewal, a student of Guru Nanak Public School, Gaganpreet Kaur of Guru Nanak Public School and Hanish Bansal of DAV School. All of them have scored 92.2 per cent marks.

Richa Singla of DAV School got the fourth position by scoring 92 per cent marks. Rohit Maheshwari of the same school stood fifth with 91.6 per cent marks.

It was not a cakewalk for these toppers. They had to toil hard to be on the top of the list. Ish Kumar literally burnt midnight oil to achieve the honours. Talking to The Tribune, he said he studied for more than 10 hours a day, besides his regular school hours. He said one should not rely on tuition only if one had to score high marks. He advised others to do lot of self study and refrain from watching television or aimless ‘geri’ of the town.

Ish Kumar said struggle had only begun for him and the road ahead would be far more competitive. The youngster aims to join the Medical stream and later compete in the civil services examination. Ish Kumar said he followed the advice and study schedule made by his parents and teachers and was indebted to them for his success.

The second spot winner, Gurjeet Kaur, said she was surprised to get such good marks as she had taken the studies casually most of the year. She said her mother was the inspiration behind her success. She was little disappointed at missing the top position by such a narrow margin and said a few minutes of more studies would have made her the topper. A compulsive television watcher, she had to disconnect the cable TV connection during her exams in order to concentrate. She said she was thankful to teachers of her junior classes who had made her basics strong. She said her advice to other students was to concentrate more on classroom teaching instead of the tuitions.

Hanish Bansal, one of the joint third spot winner, had put in much effort to score high marks. He said as this was his first major exam, he had learnt a lot about how to attempt answers properly and would use the experience for topping the next examinations as well.

Youngsters take to earning while learning

Earn while you learn. This is the new mantra for youngsters today. The advent of the new century saw youngsters, especially girls, becoming more and more career conscious and willing to go that extra yard to achieve their dream, even if it meant sweating it out. The woman of the 21st century has come of age. It is with a sense of pride that young girls are no longer content to be cocooned in their homes. They no longer want to be dependent on their family for even pocket money. This trend was seen in the metropolises but in fact catching up in Chandigarh too.

Gulnar Sahi, an independent sales manager with a leading cosmetic company, observes, "It is a great achievement to be financially independent at 20 and earn my pocket money. It has given me confidence and exposure. This career provides me an opportunity to carry on with my studies and devote time to my job as well."

A host of cosmetic companies like Avon, Aviance, Oriflame and others like Tupperware, Cutting Edge etc. have provided youngsters with tremendous earning opportunities, which are being lapped up by them.

Mini, a student of B.A says, "Being able to pursue a career at this age has not only given me a lot of self-confidence but has also made me an extrovert. I no longer ask my parents for money for any of my expenses, and the feeling of independence is very overpowering."

Evneet Kaur, another student, says, "I took the part time job as a challenge a year ago and I am not regretting my decision. I keep up with my studies besides slogging hard to complete my targets every month. I earn a decent amount and am contended."

"I not only spend the money on myself but also spend a part of it towards helping needy people," she further added.

The opportunities are enormous and well within the reach of those who dare to grab them. The sky seems to be the limit, it seems. As more and more youngsters enroll for part-time jobs, earning a decent amount of pocket money is no longer a distant dream as was true some years back.

— Ruchi Bhandari and Amandeep Kaur

HEALTH

One more dies of gastroenteritis
From Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, June 3 — With one more person succumbing to the disease, the death toll due to gastroenteritis in Fauji Colony in Sherpur area here has risen to 7.

About 650 persons have been taken ill so far, with some of them serious. Gupt Prasad, a labourer from colony, breathed his last in the Civil Hospital here late last night. He had fallen ill on June 1.

The number of persons falling ill continues to increase, with more and more people reporting in the medical camp at Fauji Colony. While 616 persons had reported in the camp till yesterday, about 40 more persons were taken ill till noon today. The medical authorities sought to allay apprehensions of an epidemic. They said the number of patients had come down and hoped that the disease will be completely controlled in the area in next few days.

The medical authorities have not launched any immunity programme in the area. However, the people are being regularly advised to take precautions. Chlorine tablets are also being served among the inhabitants of the colony. The Ludhiana Muncipal Corporation has also launched a cleanliness drive in the area. Drinking water is still being supplied in the area in tankers.

He survived a shot in the head
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, June 3 — Naresh Dogra, a Punjab police official, accidentally shot himself in the head on the night of January 8. He was bleeding profusely and by the time he was taken to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMC) here, he was deeply comatosed and gasping. The relatives attending to him could only hope against hope. His condition was deteriorating.

However, doctors at the DMC, led by a neurosurgeon, Dr Manoj K. Sobti, did not lose hope, although it was a difficult case and the chances of patient's survival appeared to be remote. Dr Sobti said, "From the right side of the head, 60 ml of blood along with pellets were removed, while on the left side, the damaged part of the brain which was coming out was removed and the repair of the skull layers was done."

The operation proved to be a complete success. He was on the ventilator for sometime, but, would recover soon now. Dr Sobti is confident of his recovery in the due course of time.

The success of Naresh's operation defied surgical precedence. Various studies in medical literature show that the after receiving a gunshot in the brain, the recovery is a slow and dangerous process and depends on the GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale) level of consciousness at the time of admission to the hospital. Doctors had been unable to save patients with the GCS readings of 3 to 4 (deeply camatosed) so far. According to Dr Sobti, Naresh's GCS reading was 4, despite that he survived.

Dr Sobti said Naresh had survived only because he had reached the hospital within half-an-hour of the accident and within one hour, he had been operated upon. He said patients with head injuries should be immediately taken to the nearest medical centre having the neurosurgery facilities. He said the chances of recovery improved if treatment began at an early stage.

CULTURE

An artist’s commitment to paint Chandigarh

IN the exhibition hall of the Punjab Arts Council, Chandigarh, the portrait of Dr M.S. Randhawa, the first Chief Commissioner of the Union Territory of Chandigarh, appeared to me so impressive for its being the true likeness of him that I couldn’t restrain myself from approaching its portraitist Mehar Singh at his residence in Sector 44.

When I called on him to express my appreciation for the said portrait, his immediate reaction was that he takes pride in portraying him mainly because he was a dignified bureaucrat, a great patron and promoter of performing arts and folk literature, a prolific writer, an orator par excellence, an agricultural scientist of eminence, and still humblest of the humble”.

A large number of portraits done by this artist, including those of all the Presidents of America, right from Abraham Lincoln to Richard Nixon, educationists Dr R.C. Paul and Dr Joginder Singh Puar, and journalist Prem Bhatia, have been the works of rare artistic merit. It is but for this extraordinary skill that the United States Information Service, New Delhi, engaged his services as an artist during which he was awarded merit certificates as well as letter of appreciation from President Nixon. Besides, the silhouettes of the American personages in the Roosevelt House, New Delhi, speak of Mehar Singh’s mastery over making statues.

It is indeed a matter of regret to record that it is a tradition in our society that men of art and literature are branded for a singular discipline whereas in actual practice they happen to be multi-faceted. Artist Mehar Singh is not a exception to it and is, therefore, branded as a ‘Portraitist, whereas the album of his works establishes that besides portraying the prominent personages from various spheres viz politics, education, literature, screen and theatre, he has painted Sikh history in its entirety. The paintings done by him on this subject are indeed unparalleled.

Hitherto, it was generally accepted that if anybody has ever depicted the Sikh history on the canvas most accurately and remarkably, he is unquestionably the late artist Kirpal Singh of Chandigarh. Undoubtedly, nobody can negate this fact. In other words, this artist has contributed significantly and invaluably to the subject of painting the Sikh history. The artifacts depicted by Kirpal Singh relating to the Sikh history command high applause for him. The point worth noting is that while Kirpal Singh has drawn, especially, the war scenes, Mehar Singh has moved far beyond to depict the multifarious facets and aspects of the history related to the Sikh Gurus in fine and beautiful water and oilcolour paintings. The general notion that Mehar Singh is a master painter of portrait art is, therefore, a fallacy altogether. Like Kirpal Singh he has also drawn remarkable paintings, which include the four significant battles fought by Guru Gobind Singh with the mighty armies of the Mughal Empire and a battle from Anandpur Sahib with the hill chieftains in which they were defeated by a very small army led by the Guru.

Like Kirpal Singh, Mehar Singh did not merely confine himself to draw the battle scenes with his brush, instead he went right up to the extent of painting the vital historical events and incidents right from Sri Guru Nanak Dev to Banda Singh Bahadur. After penetrating deeply into these artefacts, two significant aspects come to the fore very vividly: firstly, the viewer of these paintings gets lost in the lives of the Sikh Gurus and historical events of the time, and, secondly, it also dawns that the painter, handling the brush, has gone through the entire Sikh history and has a deep study of that period. Mehar Singh told me that he had a great fascination for art even during his schooldays in Lahore. He further disclosed that art is a life for him, which throbs in him in the form of music and melody. The credit of his fame in the field of music and painting goes to late artist Sobha Singh who gave him the honour to be his disciple at Lahore. He is indebted to Sobha Singh for giving him training to use the brush correctly and the colours skilfully. It is but for the expert tutorage of Sobha Singh that in a very short period artist Mehar Singh attained perfection in the use of water, oil tempera and cut colours.

During an hour-long conversation on his artistic journey spanning 60 years Mehar Singh repeatedly confided that during the sixties he had the desire to settle down in Chandigarh to paint the beauty and grandeur of the city but he couldn’t do so due to constraints of assignment with the United States Information Service, New Delhi. “The lush-green Leisure Valley, the Rose and Rock Gardens, the Sukhna Lake at the foot of the Shivalik Hills, and the modern buildings housing the Govt. Museum & Art Gallery, the Punjab Arts Council and the Gallery of the Department of Fine Arts, Panjab University, have been inspiring me to draw them on the canvas”, Mehar Singh confessed. He has already begun to do that. Earlier, the only artist who drew colourful sketches on the art and architecture of the city is Gulzar Singh Gill of Chandigarh. Artist Mehar Singh said that he would paint the city scenario from such an angle which would not only be realistic but also of an appeal to the critics and admirers of art and architecture.

An interesting outcome of my encounter with Mehar Singh is that he is committed to draw various facets of Chandigarh on his canvas which would include the socio-cultural scenario as well as the art and architecture of the city. ‘It is my quest’, he says confidently. Born in 1929, Mehar Singh is the recipient of a fairly good number of awards and honours in recognition of his meritorious work. Under his expert guidance as President, the Punjab Lalit Kala Academy, Chandigarh, has been marching ahead in the domain of art through a chain of exhibitions including the latest one on the ‘Khalsa Heritage’.

— By J.S. Bedi