EDUCATION

School honours its achievers
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 24
At their annual function here today, 91 students of BCM Arya Senior Secondary School of Shastri Nagar received prizes for achievements in academics, cultural activities and sport. Of these, 72 students were honoured for securing top three positions in various classes and 19 others for doing well in co-curricular activities.

Mohit Chawla was declared the best singer of the school, Madhur Chawla the best musician, Surbhi Kapoor the best artist and Swati the best dancer. Harpreet Kaur and Gaurav Sehgal were declared the best athletes of the school. Shubhra Chawla was declared the budding mathematician, while Shruti Sharma, Aditya Mahajan and Ish Garg were chosen the scientists of the year of the school.

On this occasion, a cultural programme was also held. It began with ‘Saraswati Vandana’, followed by the welcome address of the Principal, Ms Paramjit Kaur. Dr Deepak Manmohan, Chairman of the Sheikh Baba Farid Chair, was the chief guest.

Tiny tots danced to the rhythm of an action song ‘Hundred Miles’. Students of the primary section presented a skit ‘Liberty and Discipline’. A Rajasthani folk dance was presented by girls of middle section. A parody based on western music was a feast for the eyes.

The Principal read out the annual report and Mr Satyanand Munjal, president of the school managing committee, presided over the function.

CET forms shortage continues
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 24
Hundreds of candidates applying for CET examination to be conducted by Punjab Technical University could not get forms even on the second day of distribution of the forms today.

Even though the university had declared that the forms would be distributed through IDBI and HDFC banks on Mall Road yesterday, very few forms had reached the banks, disappointing hundreds of students standing in long queues since morning for the past two days.

At the IDBI, while no application forms were available yesterday, only 50 forms were sent by the university today, which were sold within 10 minutes. Over 400 students in a long queue had no alternative but to go back home. Mr Anil Khurana, branch head, said he had requested the university authorities to send more application forms today.

Similarly at the HDFC bank, 300 forms had reached yesterday, which were sold within one hour. Today, again an equal number of forms had reached the bank where the authorities once again faced a tough time refusing several hundred remaining students who were told to visit the bank tomorrow to collect their forms.

Mr Anurag, personal banker at the branch, said he had already sent a message to the university, demanding more CET forms. He said that the authorities of the university might not be aware of the heavy demand for the forms in the city.

The students standing outside the bank were much disturbed with the distribution system of the PTU. They said that it would have been more convenient and time saving for them if they had personally gone to the university or had posted an order with a demand draft to procure these. They said that it was for the second day that they had stood in queue for more than an hour and were still without forms.

School principals hold meetings
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 24
Principals of schools affiliated with the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) held a meeting at Rajindra Model Senior Secondary School, Haibowal, here today.

The principals discussed various new rules set by the PSEB regarding limit of the number of students per section and appointment of trained teachers. As per the rules, the schools have been directed to limit the number of students in each section to 50. The board has directed that if the number was exceeding, two or more sections may be formed and students be made to sit separately for better learning. Moreover, no untrained teachers should be allowed to teach in schools, the board states.

However, the principals pointed out that due to space problem, they could neither construct new rooms nor make the students sit in the open. They also said several untrained teachers were working in their schools for the past over 10 years and their retrenchment was not possible.

Mr Rajinder Sharma, president, Association of PSEB-affiliated Schools, said imposition of new rules was unjustified. He said the association had held a meeting with the Education Minister, Mr Khushal Behl, and discussed the matter with him.

PAU scientists win award
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 24
Dr Ramesh Arora, Dr G.S. Battu and Dr G.S. Dhaliwal, scientists from the Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, have won the best poster-presentation award at the UGC Working Conference on ‘Entomological research — progress and problems’ that concluded at Panjab University recently. The scientists presented their paper on ‘Potential of nucleopolyhedro virus for management of helicoverpa armigera (Hubner)’ which was adjudged the best.

CULTURE

A bhajan singer of promise
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 24
Suresh Mendiratta is a name synonymous with singing bhajans in the city. Listening to him for few minutes is enough to make one believe that his voice can make one forget the limits of time.

A businessman, Mendiratta finds time from his busy schedule for his first love—singing bhajans. One wonders that by utilising evening hours and weekends during the past seven-eight years, he has released more than 20 cassettes, out of which five have been released by the T-series. His peaceful voice, just like his persona, does wonders on the audience, and he can rightfully claim that he is the first choice of all bhajan and ghazal nites organisers in the city.

Consequently he is always busy on Sunday evenings. His friends and acquaintances never spare him whenever they have a function at home. And he too never looses a chance to them to complaint against him.

A father of two, Mendiratta started singing when he was in the sixth standard. He is an alumnus of A.S. Vijay Senior Secondary School in Pilani from where noted singer Mukesh had also got his education. “This was enough for me to feel encouraged. I kept singing and singing and there was no looking back. And I believe there are no short cuts to success, especially if you practice any form of art. It tests your patience and dedication and only then you start getting the rewards,” says Mendiratta.

His cassettes have got a good response, especially Tujhme Om Mujhme Om, Jain Bhajans, Shanti Path, Meri Bhawna and recently released Jiyo aur Jeene do. Now he is working on a new cassette, Dada ji ki mahima with Anuradha Paudwal, noted bhajan singer which according to him is being produced by SSP of Amritsar, Mr Jatinder Jain. The cassette will be released by T-series.

A winner of countless awards and trophies, Mendiratta feels that classical music is the basis of all music in the world. “Riyaaz is equally important. Music is a karma-vidya. It comes to you if you practise it continuously,” says he, adding that his family’s positive role has also helped him a lot. His father looks after his business when he is away for his first love and his wife’s encouragement has helped him transform his plans into reality.

Regarding his wife Poonam he says, “Actually she is the one who had organised my first ghazal programme in Arya College in 1991. And I did not let her down and have come up to her expectations.”

‘Dance Like a Man’ today
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 24
Famous actors, including Lillete Dubey of “Monsoon Wedding” fame, Vijay Crishna, Joy Sengupta and Suchitra Pillai would be performing acclaimed English play “Dance Like a Man” at Guru Nanak Bhavan on April 25. The show is being organised by the Ludhiana Sanskrit Samagam, the premier agency, devoted to the organisation of such shows for the art lovers in the city.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, president and Mr S.K. Rai, general secretary of the organisation, said Mahesh Dattani’s famous production “Dance like a Man” is one amongst a handful of stage worthy’s plays in English drawn from Indian reality.