Scientists use mango bark for fast dyeing
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 13
With the aim to reviving the art of dyeing with natural colours and eliminating the use of synthetic dyes that produce hazardous carcinogenics, polluting and non-biodegradable byproducts, scientists from Punjab Agricultural University have developed a standardised technique for dyeing wool with dry mango bark.

A study was conducted by Dr O.P. Singh, Head of the Department of Clothing and Textiles, along with Ms Sandeep Bains, Assistant Scientist, Ms Gaganpreet Goraya and Ms Manpreet Kang, both Research Associates from the department, to determine the optimum conditions such as dye material extraction time, dye material concentration and dyeing time to get the best results for dyeing woollen yarn with dry mango bark.

The scientists found that the technique could be successfully used to dye wool to obtain a wide range of soft, pastel and bright colours. While synthetic dyes are generally considered to be superior to natural dyes in terms of colour fastness, the standardised conditions developed by the scientists for the technique gave good to excellent results for colour fastness to washing, rubbing, light and perspiration.

A music feast for Ludhianvis
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 13
Last evening, the Ludhianivis had a feast of music. A talent search contest, “Banja Stara Yaara”, was organised by Pepsi at South City. Out of 3,000 entries, six candidates were short-listed. It was after a set of closely contested semifinals which were conducted in Jalandhar and Patiala that these six singers got the chance to show their talent.

The judges of the contest were noted Punjabi singers like Sardul Sikander, Shankar Sawhney, Amar Noori, Paramvir Singh, Chandan Das and Atul Sharma. In the first round, six finalists were asked to sing songs of their own choice. Before choosing three finalists in the second round, the professional singers sang beautiful melodies that made people forget the sultary weather. Paramveer sang “hasna billo ni”, Shankar Sawhney sang a folk song, “lodiya, lodiya ni” and Amar Noori had the audience clapping wildly when she sang, “ishq barandi chardi jandi”.

Charan Das rendered the song “diya nahin jab gaon , aag lagi sab gaon”. Jaidev who has composed music of Shaeed Bhagat Singh sang the evergreen song “mera rang de basanti chola”. After the singers had sent waves of joy by their numbers, it was the turn of the contestants to show their talent. The second round was the judges’ choice round. The final winners were Kanak Joshi, a young boy from Solan. The second prize went to Sanjay Khan of Ludhiana and third prize was bagged by Sukhdev Saggar of Jalandhar. A grand fire work display was the befitting end to the mega musical show.