EDUCATION

Students surprise music maestros
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 17
Pandit Ronu Majumdar was in the city to weave magic with his flute for school students as part of ‘Virasat-2001’ organised by SPIC MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Among Youth).

The magic of ‘Raag Bhairavi’ by Pandit Ronu Majumdar and electrifying playing of tabla by Sudhir Pandey mesmerised students of DAV School of Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar here today. When these maestros played, there was a roar of an applause in the jam-packed auditorium and students wanted more of it.

Pandit Ronu Majumdar said, “I was impressed by the discipline and knowledge shown by these students, who gave us their undivided attention.” He had a pleasant surprise when a student told him that ‘Raag Bhairavi’ was a morning raga. Pandit Majumdar said there were many variants of the raga like ‘Aahir Bhairavi’ and ‘Nat Bhairavi’.

He demonstrated various music scales and Sudhir Pandey familiarised students with various ‘taals’. He urged students to preserve their heritage, music and individuality.

Pandit Majumdar and Sudhir Pandey presented a bandish ‘Jago Mohan Pyare’. Since the flute maestro is a vocalist as well, he sang a bit of the bandish as well. The ‘jugalbandi’ was amazing with Sudhir’s fingers moving like lightning in synchronisation with the flute. Teachers and students of the school will remember the magic for a long time.

Pandit Majumdar has learnt the flute magic from his father Dr Bhanu Majumdar, Pandit Laxman Prasad Jaipurwale and Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao. A powerful performer, Pandit Ronu Majumdar belongs to Maihar Gharana that has produced musicians of eminence like Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

Pandit Ronu Majumdar said he had incorporated sweet notes of ‘Raag Pahari’ in his new compositions. He has played in the Raag Sabha of Amritsar’s Durgyana Mandir and the Harballabh fair. He said festivals of classical music should be organised more frequently, so that, classical music reached out to masses. “People believe that classical music is too serious for them, so, they keep away from it, but this is a myth,” he said.

Pandit Ronu Majumdar learnt Gurmukhi because he was fascinated by the shabads in Guru Granth Sahib that inspired him. His composition ‘Dhyan’ was received well by the public. He said, “The composition shows that Sanskrit verses of Sam Veda can become a part of modern life. The mantras and the notes from my flute have been blended well in this composition. Doctors are using the music to relieve people of stress.”

When asked if he was in favour of fusion music, he said, “I am for fusion music because we live in the 21st century, but only those artistes should present this music who have established themselves in the field of classical music or the fusion will become noise. I have also come up with a fusion-music album ‘Ektaman’ with Louis Banks and I expect it to be a trendsetter. Shiva Mani was a good ‘mridangam’ player before he became a percussionist. Along with base-guitarist Karl Peter and Fazal Quershi, all of us plan to bring out a fusion-music album.”

He said, “In the West, sitar was popularised by Pandit Ravi Shankar and tabla by Ustad Alla Rakha Khan, but flute was nowhere in the picture. It was the genius of Pandit Pannalal Ghosh to make flute a concert instrument.”

Pandit Ronu Majumdar has also composed music for a Hollywood film, ‘Primary Colours’. His style of playing is different from that of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, as he uses the seven-hole technique, whereas Pandit Chaurasia uses the six-hole technique. Also, his flute is three-and-a-half-feet-long. He said, “Music education should begin at an early age, so that, students learn to appreciate classical music.”

Sudhir Pandey, who accompanied Pandit Majumdar on tabla, was born in a family of intellectuals. His music education began at an age of eight under the guidance of his father Pandit Arjun Pandey and Pandit Bhagat Singh Ji of Delhi and Benaras Gharanas, respectively, which explains how he is able to combine the strengths of both schools beautifully. His admirers include Ustad Vilayat Ali Khan, Pandit Nikhil Banarejee, Pandit V.G. Jog, Pandit Bhajan Sopori, Pandit Ram Narayan, Ustad Sujat Hussain Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Raiyes Khan, Girija Devi, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra and Pandit Srikant Bakarey.

Poor condition of govt schools worries sangh
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 17
The Ludhiana Sewa Sangh is deeply perturbed over the bad condition of government schools which it thinks is responsible for relegating the state to the 16th place on the literacy rate list in the country.

According to Mr Suresh Gupta, president of the sangh, lack of furniture and even basic amenities in most of the government schools and the lackadaisical attitude of the teachers in rural areas, the standard of education was constantly declining. And judging these schools by the absence of necessary infrastructure, parents were forced to admit their wards to private schools which charge big donations and fees.

The Ludhiana Sewa Sangh had filed a public interest litigation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in June 1999 to get the government-fixed fees implemented in private aided schools. The court directed the DPI (Schools) in December 1999 that students of all the 484 aided schools should be given proper receipts against the fees charged from them as prescribed by the government. The sangh had to file a contempt of court case against the DPI (Schools) in August last year for non-implementation of the High Court directive, he added.

Mr Gupta expressed the hope that if the current neglect on the part of the government is replaced with attention, Punjab could very well be on the top of the literacy rate list.

School declamation contest tomorrow
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 17
Over 12 schools of the city will participate in an inter-school declamation contest on the plight of girl child to be organised by Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Sarabhanagar, on September 19.

Stating this in a press note, Sister Helima, principal, said that the school was observing a “Girl child fortnight” from September 8 to 20 in which students, teachers, parents and people were being made aware of the plight of the girl child in India. She said that the declamation contest was part of the awareness programme.

Giving more details, Mr Anil Kumar, organiser of the contest, said that students would have to choose from any of the five topics in three languages. In English, the five topics would be “Female illiteracy and female foeticide go hand in hand”, “let girls be born, bred and bloom”, “female foeticide — how many mothers to be blamed”, “booms are not tombs” and “falling female ratio — demographic disaster”.

In Hindi, the five topics are “Nanhi ke hatiyare — maa baap, doctor sare”, “sabhya samaj ki pehchaan — ladki, ladka ek samaan”, “Balika vadhu se balik vadh tak”, “Ajanmi balika ki pukar — mujhe mile jeene ka adhikar” and “Nanhi munhi muniya, tumhein dekhe sari duniya”.

For speakers in Punjabi, the topics would be “Suchaji dhi roshan samaj di neeh”, “Kanya te kuk de hatiyare, manavta de dushman sare”, “Komal jindan, pathrili zindagi”, “Dhiyan di maa rani” and “Pyarian dularian, phatkare diyan mariyan”.

ABVP demands inquiry
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 17
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has demanded that the charge sheet against Mr V.K. Mehta, principal of Arya College, should not be revoked.

Stating this in a press note, Mr Sandeep Kapoor, president, and Mr Mohit Goyal, general secretary, said that by withdrawing charges of financial irregularities against the principal, the college management would be doing injustice to hundreds of students.

He alleged that the principal was also involved in the misappropriation of students’ welfare funds.

The ABVP members have demanded an inquiry into the matter and said that the culprits should be punished. They said that if a proper inquiry was not conducted, the students would be forced to move court. 

CULTURE

Divya in search of Punjabi talent
Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, September 17
‘‘There is so much hidden talent in Punjab, the need is to have an insight to explore this talent. This industrial city has changed a lot for good. People have changed, their thinking has changed. They are no longer orthodox, which is undoubtedly a sign of prosperity,’’ said Divya Dutta, the dusky damsel from Sahnewal (Ludhiana), while talking to Ludhiana Tribune here today. She was in the city to choose and promote young talent for Soft Reach’s Project, Face-n-Figure.

Divya said that time was different when she had joined industry. Parents did not allow their children to join movies.‘‘Ludhiana has changed a lot. Earlier people discouraged when someone joined the industry. But now parents themselves encourage their children, as you can get both name and fame in this profession’’, she said.

Divya believes that talent should be explored in a proper way. ‘‘One should be encouraging. I will be the first one as far as promotion of Punjabi culture is concerned. If the young artistes are given a platform, they can do very well with their talent,’’ Divya added.

On asking where she rated herself among Bollywood actresses, she said, ‘‘Well there are absolutely no comparisons. Because when I entered Bollywood, people said I was cute, sweet little girl. I gave a kiddish look. That was the real disadvantage for me as I did not look older. So I could not get extra-ordinary offers,’’ said Divya with a serious look on her face.

The actress said that now she was getting good offers. She said, "By the end of 2002, my four to five good films will be released, which will be commercials. I have great hopes from them’’. She said that to an extent she was satisfied with her filmi career but ‘‘definitely I will have to work hard to establish my identity as a good actress’’, added Divya.

Divya does not think of marriage at this age. ‘‘I will definitely marry but this is not the right age. I will concentrate on my work right now’’, she said.

Mr Pankaj Bindal, project co-ordinator for Face-n-Figure, in a statement earlier, said that the workshop would provide a platform to the budding talent. He said that it would provide a launchpad for aspiring models, actors, VJs. The main focus of the workshop would be on the personality development, beauty and skin care, diet and fitness, ramp walk and modeling, acting and camera facing and V-Jaying A fashion-cum-variety show will be organised by the company at Hotel Gulmohr on September 23, in which these models will walk on the ramp with known names in modeling.