EDUCATION

Quiz, declamation contests at KVM
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Dec 12 — Various contests, including a quiz, a declamation contest and competitions in poetry and jokes, were held for students of Classes III to V at Kundan Vidya Mandir, city branch, here today.

In the quiz contest, there were three teams, each comprising of four students. Twenty five rounds were held, in which questions based on awards, abbreviations, Sydney Olympics, movies, geography, state capitals and health were asked. A live audio round was also held in which a teacher sang songs and questions, like name of the singer, music album and music director, were asked to the students. Ms Maninder, in charge, Junior Humanities Forum, was the quiz master.

The results of the quiz contest are: Raghav, Arjun, Nikita Berry and Amit Chaddha of Nehru House, first; Tushar, Deepak, Minkush Minocha and Nitika Gupta of Tagore House, second; and Akshita, Nitansh, Madhur Sharma and Neha of Gandhi House, third.

Later, Chester Champ’s cool team contest was organised. There were three teams, each comprising of three contestants. Of the three contestants of a team, the first contestant had to take part in declamation, the second had to tell a poem and the third had to tell a joke.

For the first team, Neha Katyal of Class V spoke on ‘The most memorable day in my life’, Saipreet Kaur of Class III recited the poem Sthiti niyantran mein hai and Naman Arora of Class V told a joke.

For the second team, Ravneet Singh of Class IV spoke on the topic ‘Patriotism’, Madhur Sharma of Class V recited Mujhe akinchen ke liye pita samaan hai and Ishan of Class III told a joke.

For the third team, Nantash Gupta of Class III spoke on ‘Environment’, Anubha Gupta of Class IV recited the poem Yahi desh hai mera and Nitika Gupta of Class V told a joke.

Ms N. Mannan, headmistress of the school, gave away prizes to the students.

CULTURE

‘Humour has a message’

Humour is the presentation of day-to-day activities in a lighter vein with a message. Nowadays life is full of stress and hurry and in it the aim is to make people laugh for a while.

These views were expressed by humourist and comedian Bhagwant Mann during a talk with mediapersons. Mann, whose latest cassette, “Bhagwant Mann Hazir Ho”, released by T-series, which has turned out to be highly popular, said he drew his humour from everyday life, including from “saths” (common platform in villages where elders usually meet daily).

Mann said while presenting jokes in his cassettes — he already has 15 to his credit — he always preserved the sanctity of certain relationships and avoided comment on these.

Mann criticised the commercialisation of culture today. He wondered whether culture was merely dancing and singing with obscene overtones. He said he always made his family hear his every cassette before allowing it to be released in the market. His aim was to ensure that contents were not obscene and it could be heard by the entire family anywhere.

Mann, who was accompanied by Mr Anil Kakar, chief executive, Media, T-series , and Jagtar Jaggi, Mann’s partner in humourous presentations, said the latest cassette had for the first time been released all over India. There was a plan to have a fresh cassette in Hindi too.

He said entertainment should be healthy and long-lasting. He said he made a satire on the system and often chose national topics and made social evils his target. He also presented parody.

Asked who was the top comedian or humourist in Punjab, he could not give a name. However, in Pakistan, he said, popular comedians were Amaanullah and Shuki Khan.

Mann, who belongs to Satluj, a backward village in Sunam tehsil, said even today the village school had only two teachers and residents did not educate their children beyond classes VIII or IX. He said he wanted to hold shows to collect money to get a hospital opened in that area. He said it was unfortunate that village residents did not have access to gynaecological facilities and women suffered as a result.