EDUCATION

Bikramjit, Simranjeet, Navriti are best speakers
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Feb 1 — A three-day inter-college youth festival began at Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Civil Lines, here today.

Students from 12 colleges and universities of Punjab participated in the declamation and fun quiz competitions. The topics for English declamation contest were: Child is the father of man, Trees and human happiness and UNO and prosperity in the world.

For the speakers in Hindi declamation, the topics were: Mujhe Kargil jaana hai, Istri purush ek samaan and Aaj ka naujwaan kis taraf. For Punjabi declamation, the topics were: TV atte naujwaan, Wadhdi abadi di samasaya and Nari di azaadi.

Bikramjit Singh of SCD Government College was declared the best English speaker. Simranjeet Singh of the host college won the prize for best speaker in Punjabi, while Navriti of Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, was declared the best speaker in Hindi. Students of SCD Government College lifted the Giani Lal Singh Memorial Declamation trophy.

A fun quiz was also held in which Manmeet Gill, Nitin Ahluwalia and Gurminder Singh of GTB National College, Doraha, won the first prize. Jasvinder Singh Sidhu, Rai Sahib and Rakesh Singla of the host college were declared second.

The quiz was conducted by Prof Sarabjit Singh, Mr Deepak Walia, Prof R.P. Singh and Prof P.S. Sethi. Prof Kuldip Sood, Youth Programme Coordinator, compered the contests. Principal Kuldip Singh of the host college gave away prizes to winners.

COURTS

Bank guard sentenced for life
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Feb 1 — Sessions Judge, Mr S.S. Arora, has sentenced Kaffeil Ahmed Khan, a jawan of Indo-Tibet Border Police to life imprisonment, for the murder of Anil Kumar Sondhi, alias Happy.

Happy was killed on December 11,1996. Kaffeil Ahmed Khan was on guard duty in the State Bank of India branch, Chaura Bazar on that day and tried to check Happy when he was coming out of the bank after withdrawing cash. The victim refused to show his bag to the guard, as he was carrying cash. Happy argued with the guard that he should have checked him before entering the bank and not when he was going out of the bank. But the guard quarrelled with him and shot him with his service weapon.

CULTURE

My Fair Lady enchants
By Asha Ahuja

LUDHIANA, Feb 1 — ‘My Fair Lady’ was staged by students of Christian Dental College at Guru Nanak Bhavan, yesterday, as part of their five-day carnival, ‘Fusion’.

Dr S C Ahuja, Principal of DMC, and one of the chief guests, said: “I am simply astounded by the acting of the cast, and their costumes. The students have put in a lot of effort and have brought the evergreen play of Bernard Shaw alive on the stage.” Dr Ahuja was so impressed by the performance that he called up his wife to come and witness the play.

The SSP, Mr Kuldip Singh, the second chief guest, was equally impressed and much to his regret, he had to leave midway of another pressing engagement.

Though it was the maiden effort of the students of CDC, yet the acting, the costumes, the singing, the music, the dialogue delivery were all superb and did credit to the students and the Principal of the college, Dr J L Joshi, who had been the moving force behind the effort.

Mrs G. Bajwa, a theatre lover, was all praise for the Ascot Race scene. “The crowd, dressed in black and white, sporting stylish hats, dresses, binoculars, and trendy umbrellas really brought to my mind the scene from the movie of the same name and I recall Audrey Hepburn in the role of Eliza and Rex Harrison in the role of Prof. Higgins.”

The play was full of humorous situations and the credit of vividly bringing them out goes to the director, Dr Ranjit Christopher. Ranjit is a product of the CDC and is currently teaching there. The music director, Jean Fernetta Samuel, with musicians Benji Koshy and Benjamin Kipp from Pune, did a commendable job. Dr Sheena Esther Ramsay as Eliza Doolittle played the role with great sincerity and elan. Shubham Mittal as Col Pickering also gave a sterling performance, but Leny Matthew as Alfred P Doolittle (Eliza Doolittle’s father), stole the show with his acting in the role of a drunk.

“Ludhianvis had a rare treat to see the evergreen play of G.B. Shaw. The only snag was that it was rather lengthy. They should have abridged it, but the effort of the students is commendable, ” commented students from Patiala who had specially come to watch the play. 

SPORT

Nitika wins three golds in athletics
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Feb 1 — Nitika Bhatia was declared the fastest girl in the 58th Annaul Athletic Meet of Kundan Vidya Mandir School held here today.

Nitika defeated Prerna Sood in the 100 m event, who had been clinching the title for the past three years. Nitika won three golds in 800 m, 100 m and 4x100 m relay, while Prerna bagged two golds, one silver and one bronze in 200 m, shot put, 100 m and 4x100 m relay, respectively.

Sumit Lakhanpal won two golds and one bronze medal in 200 m, javelin throw and long jump, respectively. Gautam Kapoor won two bronzes and a silver in 4x100 m relay, long jump and 200 m, respectively.

The other results are: Long jump: senior boys: Amit 1, Manpreet 2 and Sumit 3; junior girls: Charmy 1, Isha 2 and Neha 3.