EDUCATION

Raise pass marks to 60 per cent, says Garcha
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 27
The higher and secondary education in the state is in bad shape. The lack of quality education in schools and colleges has caused frustration and lack of direction among the students. There is the need to check the entry of uninterested students in educational institutions. It can be ensured by raising the pass marks to at least 60 per cent for students to allow their entry in the next class. These observations were made by Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, Minister for Technical Education, Punjab.

He was speaking at a seminar on “Critical analysis on current education scenario” here yesterday. The seminar was organised by Techno Careers, a division of People 7 Technologies.

Mr Garcha admitted: “The standard of education in the state-run educational institutions is very low as compared to private education institutions. A recent survey has revealed that a large section of the students was addicted to drugs. The quality of life was deteriorating due to an increase in population and limited growth opportunities in the public and private sectors.”

While sharing his experiences of recent Chinese visit, Mr D.S. Chawla, President of United Cycle and Cycle Parts Manufacturers Association, said: “Compulsory education, social and industrial discipline in China are the main reasons of their success in the international market. We will have also to follow in their steps if we want to keep pace with them.”

Mr Prabhjot Singh, President of Techno Careers, pointed out that the colleges had become cheapest clubs in the city where most of the students just went to enjoy and kill time. Since the outdated education syllabi had no relevance in practical life so they were not taking proper interest.

He revealed that the experts in medical and engineering psychology would provide guidance to the student community to undertake aptitude tests before pursuing their education further. 

CULTURE

Nagmas thrill the audience
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 27
For the music lovers a programme, Nagma, was organised by the Adeeb International and City Club here last evening.

The programme started with rendering of a melodious bhajan ‘Alla tero naam,Ishwar tero naam’, Parmeet, a doctor, and Gurmeet, an architect delighted the audience with their songs, “Kaise tere bagair guzri tamam raat”, and “Yaad nahin kya kya”.

Tirlochan Lochi sang a song from Pyassa in his baritone voice “Yeh mehlon, yeh takhton, yeh taajon ki duniya” and many other songs. Ravneet, sang “Ajeeb dastan hai yeh” much to the delight of the audience. Kulwant sang a gazal penned by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, “Ab kahan rasam ghar tootne ki”. There were many medicos with melodious voices like Dr Navjot Bajwa. “La pila de saki” was rendered by Randheer Kanwal. The ever famous song from Madhumati “Aaja re pardesi” was sung by Binny Sehgal.

MTV’s Cyrus hunts for stars
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 27
Six feet three inches tall and packaged with loads of attitude Cyrus Sahukar, MTV’s fun and delightful VJ, host of MTV’s WebWatch,was in Ludhiana recently for ‘call in’ programme to give star aspirants tips to enrol for MTV and Coca Cola Star Hunt presented by Indiatimes.com. MTV is looking for 11 talented individuals to play lead roles in the movie, “Ishq Vishq Pyar Vyar” to be directed by famous Ken Ghosh.

“It is the tragedy of life that in square holes round pegs fit and vice-versa. So through the talent hunt the aspirants can find the right slot. Those not successful will have at least had a satisfaction that they had tried and won’t have regrets later on.” said Cyrus, the VJ of MTV

Talking to this correspondent Cyrus said, “I am delighted to be in Ludhiana. I find the city to be a very happening city. Ever since we have advertised for ‘talent hunt, we have had 5,000 entries from Pondicherry to remote villages. I think MTV is doing a great job by providing opportunity to individuals to act in films. I have found out that many people who are doing well in life still have regrets that they never got a chance to get into films. Now the route to get into films is being made easier and more approachable for the aspiring actors and actresses. The process of enrolment will go on till June 15. While he was in Ludhiana, he took in 25 calls from the young aspirants. The programme was telecast ‘live’. Once the dateline closes, the selected candidates will be trained by reputed choreographer, Ganesh Hegde and other famous film personalities like Satyadev Dubey in Mumbai.”

Cyrus had driven down from Delhi for an awareness trip for the ‘’talent hunt’. He said they wanted individuals from the age group 5 to 75 years, and were also looking for a pomeranian to act in the film. Meanwhile, there was a lot of excitement regarding this talent hunt contest. Cyrus said all entrants will be judged on the basis of their appearance, ability to act, dance and their ability to improvise. All that the aspirants have to do is to send in their bio-data with two full length photographs to MTV.

When asked if MTV was not corrupting the youth by producing westernised programmes, he defended MTV by saying “MTV Networks International reaches more than one quarter of the world’s television households. At the recently held finals of the MTV Video and Ga Ga contest, the channel discovered four talented voices poised to be Indi-pop’s newest sensations. MTV leads to awareness among youth about latest things by hosting a variety of programmes. By hosting shows like ‘Record Tod, it provides opportunities to college students to have fun and be creative. MTV brings laughter and smiles to a lot of young stressed out people and that in itself is a very big achievement”.

Jazz — a different sound of music
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, May 27
Percussionist Anandan Sivamani and jazz guru Louis Banks were in city today. In an interview, Sivamani said his father was a great drum player, but he never allowed him to touch drums. Sivamani grew up practicing in the kitchen with things like spoons, bottles, sauce pans and his mother was his first fan. Later, he used this kind of music in the movie ‘Taal’.

He said a percussionist could play drums, bells, ‘ghungroos’, ‘manjiras’ and congos and many other things. At the age of eight, Siva could never resist the temptation of playing his father’s band kit in his absence. One day, while he was doing this, his father walked into the house, heard his son play, spotted his talent and began giving him lessons. He used to visit the studio of Neol Grant, a navy drummer, and was fascinated by his way of playing drums. He often had to miss his school for this.

He got his first break when his father, as he was injured in an accident, told him to play for music director K.V. Mahadevan. On his first day with him, the team was composing the background music for an action scene. Siva says, “I began playing drums with all my energy. They faded out sounds of all other instruments, except my drums, from the background music. S.P. Balasubramanyam heard me play and took me into his band. I am still playing for him and consider him my godfather. I used to practice for about 14 hours in a studio and that practice has paid me dividends.”

He says, “Zakir Hussain also heard me play and asked me to perform with him. Then, Louis Banks, Karl Peters, Shankar Mahadevan and I formed a band called ‘Silk’. We have been playing all over the world to popularise fusion music.”

Sivamani has formed another band called Rhythm Asia with Bhawani Shanker and Louis Banks. They will perform in Chicago two days from now. A.R. Rehman and he grew up together and are buddies till today. Sivamani has given music in Rehman’s films like ‘Roja’, ‘Lagan’, ‘Taal’ and ‘Rangeela’.

Sivamani says, “God has been kind enough to given me a chance to play for British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his ‘Bombay Dreams’. I am also playing for Steven Segal for his ‘World Music Album’.

Louis Banks said, “I have always been a jazz man. A lot of jazz players have changed tracks, but I have not. Support for jazz players is little, but I find jazz rather soothing. I use the knowledge of jazz in my other compositions. This lends freshness and variety to my music.”

When Louis Banks was asked to prepare the signature tune of Doordarshan’s news bulletin, Rajiv Gandhi, the then PM, wanted a tune with universal appeal, whereas, many others wanted it to be typically Indian. DD used his tune for 10 years.

He says, “Music is in my blood and I cannot escape it. I learnt it from my father. I was impressed when I heard Oscar Peterson, whom I consider the greatest pianist in the world, play. I shifted from classical music to jazz and became a band leader in a Calcutta night club in 1970s. In Bombay, I joined the world of films and advertising.” The man who composed music for commercials like ‘Harama Bajaj’, ‘Aaj Bhi Kal Bhi’ of VIP suitcases and the Cadbury’s chocolates’ campaign, is the most sought composer today.

He said he loved live performances, for which, he travelled a lot with his band ‘Silk’. He said, “We hardly use any lyrics. Our music is based on Carnatic music, but we interpret it our way. The western audience loves the combination of jazz and Indian classical music. Jazz has helped us take Indian classical music a step further. The members of ‘Silk’ can read each other’s mind because we have been together for the past 10 years.”

Now, the band is also on the Internet. As their music is different than usual, the Net is helping them popularise it.