The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

Justice Anand to lay foundation stone
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — The foundation stone of an examination building of a Panjab University will be laid on July 15 by the Chief Justice of India, Mr Justice A.S. Anand. Mr Justice Anand had earlier been a part-time lecturer in the law Department of Panjab University.

Earlier, serving on the Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was elevated as Chief Justice in Jammu and Kashmir and then to the Madras High Court before being elevated as the Chief Justice of India.

The examination building will be constructed at the cost of Rs 1.75 crore which has been donated by Canada based orthopedic surgeon, Prof (Dr) Ranjit Chabra, in memory of his wife Aruna. She was a student of Political Science Department of Panjab University.

COURTS

Two acquitted in murder case
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, July 11— Two persons were acquitted in murder of a woman on account of lack of evidence by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr R.C. Godara.

Namlal, husband of Chandrawati, had filed a report on September 21, 1998, that his wife was missing. The police recovered the skeleton of Chandrawati from the jungle behind Sukhna Lake on November 21, 1998. The police arrested Lekhraj and Dewarke on November 21 and 27, respectively, the same year.

The three main witnesses of the case were Namlal, Shutan and Sunder Lal. Namlal stated in the court that he saw his wife being taken by the accused in a rickshaw. Shutan made a statement in the court that he saw the accused dropping Chandrawati at the lake and Sunder Lal stated that he just helped the police to recover the skeleton of the deceased. The defence counsel argued that the statements made by the witnesses do not clarify anything about the killer.

The Judge acquitted them on the account of lack of evidence.

Bail application of Ranjit reserved
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — Orders were reserved till July 12 on the bail application of Ranjit Bajaj, a son of senior IAS couple, in the alleged abduction of Sunny Garg, son of a city-based industrialist, on May 14, by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Lakhbir Singh.

The defence counsel of the accused argued that the allegations against the accused were false and Sunny Garg was caught stealing in the house of Mr B.R. Bajaj, father of the accused. He also argued that Mr Bajaj went to drop Sunny to his house and that Ranjit took Rs 1.18 lakh from the bag of Sunny was not true. He further argued that the pistol mentioned in the report was a toy pistol and it was in the possession of the police.

Opposing the application, the public prosecutor argued that the accused belonged to an influential family and therefore he could pressurise the witnesses. Hearing arguments from both sides the Judge reserved the order till July 12.

CULTURE

Unravelling mysteries of childhood with a paint brush
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — His work is not just about paint and brush techniques. It has inspirations from the West blended with the traditional tinge. And as Naresh Bagga, a BFA in painting, from the local College of Art throws open his works to the art lovers of the city after a long hiatus, one wonders why this artist was hiding such an amazing talent for so long.

"There were reasons behind that. I did not want to offer stereotype works. I wanted to give something different," says Naresh Bagga. And his works more than confirms his claim. There are 18 works on the display and they are assortments of woodwork, works on linonium and paintings. In fact, the artist shows streaks of excellence in graphics and silk screen techniques.

Naresh draws his themes from the innocence yet insolent childhood, and he uses black and white to shows children painting in a studio, sometimes charged with energy and sometimes resting after getting tired of their own adventures. He also uses woodwork to exhibit children playing pranks. In one work, he shows a group of four children carrying a doli, while one from among them poses as the bride sitting inside.

Why children? "I have somehow always been drawn towards the mysteries of childhood. That is what I try to discover and unravel all the time," says Naresh Bagga who had taken exile from the world of art for sometime, only to strike back with a style.

It has taken him almost about three years to give the final shape to what he is exhibiting today. The artist says that he draws inspiration from American artist Coral Summer's woodwork. As he puts it, "Woodwork requires high level of physical and emotional investment. A work will never reflect what you want it to, if you rush with it. The only way about it is taking it easy. That is why I took so long to come back with these works."

Naresh also specialises in portraits, and the self portrait which he has displayed shows the levels of his specialisation. Then there are paintings which are mainly landscapes inspired by the hills of Himachal. The artist has painted one full Himachal village — Shallhan. He covers the minute details of the village's architecture which is a marvel in itself. He also shows the temples which are rooted in the Buddhist tradition. Even the houses seem to be inspired by the Chinese architecture. All the landscapes exude high degree of perfection.

Naresh's struggle seems to have come to his advantage, and today while he was holding his first exhibition, he could not help recalling his mother who had to do even the additional work of cleaning floors to see his talented son rise. Although Naresh has participated in various exhibitions around his native place Ludhiana, this one is his first solo exhibition.

"I could never gather the courage to go it alone," says he. But going by the response this time, he is sure to be loaded with courage for the next time.

An evening wrapped in rhythm
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — The monthly baithak programme of the Pracheen Kala Kender took off to a rhythmic start today with renowned bharatnatyam dancer Deepa Bhawani Shankar regaling the audience with her poised performance. For once, the performance was free from the fetters of blended compositions. She performed in a pure bharatnatyam style, beginning with Pushpanjali and concluding with Tillana.

Deepa began with Pushpanjali wherein she sought the blessings of her guru and offered flowers to Lord Ganesha. This invocatory item was followed by Varnam — a finely blended item which offers a combination of Nritta, the pure form and Nritya, the expressional form. In the Varnam, the artist depicted herself as the love-lorn beloved of Lord Kartikeya. She beckons her friend and asks her to call the Lord.

Following Varnam was a Meera bhajan in Raag Varamu. In this composition Meera is shown making offerings to Lord Krishna. She praises him for his spirit of saving the needy. Next came the Slokam which depicted with force and grace the physical might of Lord Shiva coupled with his dominant aesthetic bearing. Shiva is shown as carrying the Ganga in his jata. When Kamadeva hits Lord Shiva, he gets furious and burns him with his anger. The Slokam was performed in Raag Malika.

This was followed by Padam, a short musical composition dealing with love as it grows through all situations — easy and difficult. In this composition, the nayika is soliciting Ma Yashodhara and asking her as to what she has done to be blessed with the motherhood of Lord Krishna.

The dance sequence concluded with Tillana — a pure dance sequence which is dipped in rhythm and grace. Accompanying artistes were Guru Padma Sampath Kumaran on the Nattuvangam, vocalist Vidya Srinivasan and R.S. Krishnan on the violin.

A team inspired by creation
By Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — They are a team of nine — and all inspired by creation. When they got together after passing out from the PU’s Theatre department, they were uniformly driven by the idea of giving an identity to the department which has, despite about 27 years of its existence, failed to somehow make its presence felt in the city.

To offer a platform to talent is not an easy job, but with the foundation of NATWA (an association of national theatre and television), the job has already started. And the first phase of a dream will perhaps see itself coming true as NATWA gets ready to stage its maiden production — Roshoman (directed by Mohan Maharishi) — a script based on two short stories by the early 20th century writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke. The play has a powerful storyline which somehow grows over the mind.

Roshoman happened after a long time investment. As Harinder Sandhu, secretary, NATWA, informed, “Earlier we wanted to stage A Midsummer’s Night Dream, but we did not have enough girls to perform for us. Then we started hunting the script and by sheer luck, we came across this story which is a satire on hypocrisy. “

The story highlights the human tendency of drooping to moral lows for saving one’s skin. It’s all about moulding words to our convenience, and about how in the process we let a lot of immorality prevail.

The theme is social and the centre of the story is a woman, Jamna (played by Harinder). The play opens with a woodcutter (Vishal Jain) trying hard to persuade the priest (Gorky) not to run away from the truth even if it causes pain. The priest has just witnessed the sequence of events in a courtroom where three people are testifying three different versions. These three people are — the woman Jamna, her husband, and the bandit.

The flashback touches upon the events which have led to the matter ending in the court of law. A wealthy landlord (Anurag) is going through the jungle with his wife Jamna. A bandit (played by Sunil Chitkara) accosts them on the way. He rapes the woman and murders the husband. The case then lands in the court where Jamna, her husband’s spirit and the bandit are called to explain their stands. The story is about how the three assert their points of view, trampling over a lot of truth in the process.

Other key players are the woodcutter and the lakkarhara who are witnesses to the crime. Their testimony helps clear some of the clouds. While the reality lies shrouded, the priest is genuinely disgusted and hence he tries to escape in search of peace. He is, however, encountered by the woodcutter at the Roshoman gate (which marks the entry to the town) and is convinced to stay back.

The irony of the tale is reflected in the fact that the victim’s testimony herself is culturally conditioned.

Theatre as social catalyst
By Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 11 — It is an experiment in novelty and going by the level of enthusiasm its participants are displaying, it seems that no one can stop it from being a success. It is a venture of the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi, but fortunately, it has nothing much to do with politics. The effort is sincere and so are the players. For that was how it was envisaged when the akademi invited noted Punjabi theatre veteran, Sardar Gursharan Singh to rope in the available talent and direct what would be a model production.

Starting from today, a month-long theatre workshop will begin at Punjab Kala Bhavan. About 12 artists from Chandigarh and its vicinity will work on Sardar Gursharan Singh’s dream project “Gatha ik pind di.”

The project has been taken by the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi whose President, Ms Harjinder Kaur, clearly said the akademi wanted to nurture talent and serve the social cause through theatre.

The idea behind the entire venture is to prepare theatre that groups that can act as catalysts in the theatre movement. As Sardar Gursharan Singh himself put it, “We want to reach the remote areas of Punjab where people know little about what their rights are. We want to touch people where they will react most. So I have come here today with my own group of artists. I have always sent open invitations to anyone who want to join the movement. We will be here for a month, directing talent to suit the needs of the changing times. Through these artists we will voice the concerns of people. We will tell the rural masses how important it is to fight for one’s rights.”

The story line, as narrated by the director-cum-author of the play, Sardar Gursharan Singh, sound powerful. It revolves around a school teacher who is the centre of constructive activity in a remote village where negative forces also have a major say. The school teacher (played by Jasbir Dhillon) is furthered in his sincere motive by a retired Subedar, played by Sulaiman Bhat. The story matures as the progressive forces get together to overpower the negative ones. The stress all through the play is on “securing one’s birth rights and one’s dignity as a human being.”

The team plans to stage the production for the first time around Independence Day. Other participants in the workshop are Dilawar Sidhu, Honey Walia, Rajinder Pal Singh, Raman Dhillon, Harpinder Singh, Rashpal, Jaspal Deol, Rajesh and Jaspal Kaur. Sumit, a student of the Indian Theatre Department, will make light arrangements, while music is being arranged by Charan Singh. The group dance performance will be given by the members of Avami Kala Kender.