The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Triangular contest likely in PUTA poll
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22
The announcement of the Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) election date has set the process of group meetings in the university to decide on candidates to be fielded for the various posts of PUTA.

After many years of direct contests between the two groups of teachers in the university this time a triangular fight is expected with the entry of a team of Prof Madhukar Arya of the Urdu Department. He will also be contesting for the post of the president and regarding other candidates he stated that it will be decided in a day or two. Prof Arya has been the secretary of PUTA in 1993. “Unlike what is being thought, the group I intend to get together will be based on a similar line of thought and has nothing to do with the RSS since the RSS never contests elections. In 1993 too I contested the elections on my own merit not being a part of any group,” he said.

On the other hand, the activist group of the university, which is popularly thought to be having leftist leavings, is still exploring as to who will be taking the responsibility of working for the teachers’ cause by agreeing to contest for the president’s post. A meeting to consider on the candidates was held today and another meeting will be held on Tuesday.

The other group of the university which has its member Prof J.K. Chauhan as the secretary, PUTA, for the current year is believed to be serious about fielding Prof Chauhan for the post of president this time. The only catch seems to be that Prof Chauhan is also in line for the post of the DSW and in that case he will not be allowed to carry on with two posts.

The PUTA elections for the 2001-2002 session will be held on August 13, 2001, at the Panjab University auditorium.

These elections will be held to fill the five posts of PUTA office-bearers which include the president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer.

Thirteen executive members of PUTA will also be elected belonging to five groups. Group 1and 2 will have four members each from departments under the Faculty of Arts and Languages and departments under the Faculty of Science and Mathematics. Group 3 will have three seats from the other departments while group 4 and 5 will have one seat each from Department of Evening Studies and Department of Correspondence Studies.

CULTURE

Gaiety marks Teej celebrations
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, July 22
Exhilarating swings were tied on tall trees and a hosts of fun-filled activities were organised on the occasion of Teej, the festival of ‘sawaan’, by Bharat Vikas Parishad at Indira Holiday Home in Sector 24 here today.

Students from various schools of the city added colour to the evening by presenting colourful giddha, Rajasthani and Haryanvi folk dances and songs. The function started with a prayer song by Suchita Seth, a student of Sacred Heart School, which was followed by a soul-searching sitar recital by Bindu.

The main attraction of the evening was the fancy dress competition, where the participants dressed up as their favourite characters from the history like Radha, Meera Bai and Lakshmi Bai, or simply attired in the ethnic outfit of different states. A mehndi competition for women and lucky draw for both men and women were also organised on this occasion.

A huge colourful rangoli dominated the veneue at the Rajasthan Bhawan, where Teej was celebrated with fun and gaiety. Mehndi was applied with great fervour and colourful dance items were presented by women and children.

Sarika Chandigotia, Monika Singhal and Sarla Bagri started the evening with Ganesh vandana. Children below the age of 13 presented solo dances while a group of four women presented a Rajasthani group dance.

Celebrating Teej, the members of the Press Club in Sector 27 organised a cultural evening, where a number of local artistes presented bhangra and giddha. The women applied mehndi. The occasion was made interesting by Markfed serving tasty malpua and kheer.

All for a glimpse of beauties
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22
Gorgeous Aditi Govitrikar, ravishing Nethra Raghuraman, sensuous Fluer Xavier and a host of other famous models — the National Institute of Fashion Design in Sector 8 here had them all under one roof today. Just as the top models of the country walked into the NIFD campus this morning, a good number of die-hard fans followed suit. The result was, too, obvious to be predicted. By the time the models settled for the press conference slated for tomorrow’s Fashion Fantasies event of NIFD, there was hardly any space available in the room. The success of tomorrow’s event already stood ensured going by the fact that the viewers outnumbered mediapersons on the occasion of the press conference today.

But the frenetic activity which marked the day on the NIFD campus was only well-warranted. Among the models who were seen dropping killing glances here and there were (apart from the three mentioned above) Ms India finalist Tejaswini Kolhapure, who’s already boasting of a film with Sanjay Dutt and Govinda, Priyadarshini Pradhan (whose looks sometimes remind you of the lovely Aishwarya), Flavia Fonseca (the winner of Ms Personality), Candice Pinto (the winner of Gladrags Supermodel contest), Namita Vankawala and Sandhya Shetty (both Ms India finalists), Anjali Lavania (Ford supermodel finalist), Annie Thomas (former Femina Ms India World) and Bhawna Singh (Ms India finalist 1995). If that was not enough, the NIFD has also roped in Jasmine Bhatti (the tallest ramp model who also featured on the BBC auto show) and leading model Neha Dhupia for tomorrow’s event.

After formal introduction of the supermodels, the show progressed further to the quality and content of the show. Fashion fantasies, as the name reflects, tends to achieve a blend of fashion and music. There will be 15 rounds of modelling in all — each showcasing garments created with exclusive theme in mind. The garments have been created by NIFD students, who were divided into groups for the purpose of novelty. No design was allowed to be repeated. In fact the titles of lines of fashion have been well-conceived — some of them being called futuristic, jago, param smriti and cocktail sip....

The show will be compered by Pallab Bose and for the filling up of gaps the NIFD people have called in Bhuppi and the Sa-Re-Ga-Ma prize winner artiste Dharna.

45 artistes participate in contest
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, July 22
Nearly 45 participants danced to the tune of latest bhangra pop songs and Punjabi folk numbers during a dance competition “Masti Punjab Di” organised by the Chandigarh Art Theatre in collaboration with the Department of Cultural Affairs, Chandigarh Administration, at Tagore Theatre here today.

The competition aims at providing a platform to the upcoming artistes who are interested in working for entertainment media like music video or TV serials or feature films, according to the general secretary of Chandigarh Art Theatre, Mr A.S. Chana.

The competition was categorised into four categories on the basis of age group and style of presentation. The first three categories were assigned to solo performers, who belonged to the age group between five and 25. In the fourth category various teams presented group dance items.

The participants were judged on the basis of style of presentation, dress sense and expression by a panel of judges that included well-known dancer, actor and choreographer Narinder Nindi, actor and columnist Madan Gupta Spatu and folk dancer Sarabjeet Kaur.

The Director, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, Mr. Vivek Atray, was the chief guest on this occasion. The programme was compered by Rajesh Ahuja.