The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Seminar on national issues
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — MCM DAV College in collaboration with Panjab University NSS Department organised a seminar on national issues in the college auditorium.

Dr C.L. Narang, Director, NSS, inaugurated the seminar and stated that population explosion was one of the major issues of national concern. Ms Usha Gupta, Principal, MCM DAV College, spoke about the illiteracy widespread in the country and that education was a must for all.

Prof Prasad and Prof Poonal Devesar also spoke on the occasion. The participants pledged to work for the eradication of illiteracy in the country. They assured the resource persons that they will be imparting awareness on small family norms, care of the girl child and other related national issues.

UBS organises special lecture
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — A special lecture on “Productivity, downsizing and outsourcing” was held on the Panjab University Business School here today. The lecture was delivered by Prof S.K. Bhatt of the University of Manitoba, Canada.

Prof Bhatt warned that downsizing and outsourcing may not be in the interest of a company. He informed the audience about his research and based his study using a mathematical programming model for a computer service unit of a city corporation. He also explained that the unemployment problem could be taken care of giving reference of extensive researches in the area of productivity. He stated that out of all the companies who went in for downsizing, the profits went up only of 45 per cent of these. He talked about different kinds of efficiencies also.

Prof K.K. Mangla, Chairman, UBS, stated that in the age of globalisation, there was a tremendous pressure on organisations to improve productivity and in this context it would be relevant to think about ways and means of improving productivity, downsizing and outsourcing being one of the options.

Prof S.P. Singh presided over the lecture and coordinated a lively question-answer session after the lecture. Prof R.P. Gupta and Prof Gun Mala Suri welcomed the guests and Priya of MBA (HR) gave vote of thanks. The lecture was organised under the auspices of the Business Club.

COURTS

Judicial remand in murder case
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Ved Pal Gupta, here yesterday sent three persons arrested in connection with the murder of Swaminath Jaiswal, a resident of Maheshpur village of Sector 21, to judicial remand.

Ved Prakash, Gurjinder Singh and Harish Malik were arrested by the police last evening and a case under Sections 302 and 120 B of the IPC was registered against them.

The police is on the lookout for the main accused, Ajaib Singh, who hit the victim on face with a brick, resulting in his death.

HC to get report on scooter market today
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Mr Justice J.S. Khehar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today appointed advocate O.P. Dabla as the court commissioner to visit the scooter market of Sector 21 and find out how many number of mechanics had encroached the market place and submit his report to the court.

After going through the Court Commissioner’s report the High Court will decide whether Contempt of Court proceedings should be launched against the former UT Adviser, Ms Vaneeta Rai, for not initiating action against the encroachers in the scooter market.

A city resident Ram Parkash Sharma had filed a contempt of court petition against the then UT Adviser, Ms Vaneeta Rai, for not removing the encroachers from Sector 21 scooter market.

Mr Dabla visited the market this afternoon and may submit his report to the court tomorrow.

CULTURE

Prints in Bresson’s mould
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — For the maiden show, Sumeet Inder Singh’s works are quite mature. Going by the intensity of his composition, it is difficult to believe that Sumeet is a fourth year student at the Government College of Art. And when he talks with passion about each print on display at the college gallery, one knows exactly why he has titled the exhibition of the 30 works Art Adda.

“Art Adda is a place where art exists, where it happens. It is not just the creation of art or its physical presence, but the feel of art that pervades the place of exhibition,” said the young photographer, who takes inspiration from none other than the famous French lensman Henri Cartier Bresson. More specifically, he is drawn by the element of humanism in Henri’s prints. “He was a seminal figure in photography, and could unbelievably discover graphic relation between factors and objects. I believe firmly in the theory of decisive moment propounded by Henri. He said there is always a moment in the course of photographic activity when all images fall in place and a picture is made,” muses Sumeet as he talks about how he had attempted to capture moods in relation to the massive ambience of this Le Corbusier building.

To elaborate, the photo artist has concentrated on taking pictures of people, moods, and moments in relation to the Government College of Art. “I think Corbusier had a great mind. He has given us a wonderful building where light pours from every little corner. So for any photographer it’s a haven.”

Yet another interesting fact about the prints on display is their evasive value. As Inder himself admits, “The moment is there now and nowhere the next second. I have tried hard not to let the people know that I am capturing them in my lens. That is why I have been able to hold the moments as I saw them. I wanted each print to act as a window for the viewers.”

The works are all black and white, and for specific reasons so. “Black and white is fascinating. It’s a class apart from reality, and yet so real. In black and white photographs there is nothing to fluster the mind, no colour. So all you have to concentrate is on light and its play. I love it.”

The works are all very expressive and Sumeet is consciously trying to work on Henri’s theory of decisive moment. So where in some prints the heads fall in place, in others the hands appear to be in some kind of a graphic relation. There is compositional beauty in each and every print, and through each the artist is trying to reflect the purpose of art.

“Art just hangs heavy in the air of this gallery and everyone around can inhale it every day,” says Sumeet who is working to bare graphic verve and a sensual appeal in each of the 30 prints on show

No intensity without simplification: Mago
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — His past is quite illustrious. From the man who advised the Government of Malta on setting up a school of arts in 1974 to an art critic who was for long associated with The Patriot, Prof P. N. Mago has come a long way in life.

After almost three decades, he returned to the Sector 10 Government College of Art, with which he has been associated since the days when it used to be in Shimla. Prof Mago said, “I was senior teacher of painting there for five years.”

Prof Mago is here on the invitation of the Principal of the Sector 10 Government College of Art to deliver three lectures as part of the golden-jubilee celebrations of the college. Today, he spoke on Distortion: Systematic and Arbitrary and Drawing and Composition: Interrelation.

Though the lectures were for students of the college, one could relate to the issues because of the simple manner in which these were presented. About distortion, Mago said, “The word is used widely, but understood little. Distortion means the transfiguration that artists impose on the exterior world to present a more intense version of it.”

He said the search for intensity had dominated modern painting. “However, there can be no intensity without simplification and even distortion,” said the art critic. He also said simplification, distortion of forms and modification of natural appearances were ways of arriving at an intense expressiveness of form.

About the relation between drawing and composition, Prof Mago said both were complimentary. “You can’t draw if you can’t compose and vice versa.” The critic also stressed the need for coming to peace with oneself before an artistic pursuit. He said, “It’s important to breed gentleness into the spirit and the thoughts should be tranquil. When all is at peace, the artistic process should start. Tidiness is a measure of excellence. Even the streaks of carelessness in a water-colour sketch should be deftly executed. This tidiness should not be confused with finish.”

The two lectures held today were well-received. Tomorrow, the artist will deliver an illustrated lecture on Art Crafts on Crafts Art.