The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

235 awarded degrees
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 19
As many as 235 B.Ed and M.Ed students of the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 batches were awarded degrees at the eighth convocation of Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, here today.

The toppers in B.Ed for the session 1999-2000 who were honoured, included Monika Kukkar (1), Prerna Dhillon (2) and Chandan Payal Brar (3). While Binny Arora, Anjali Makol and Balwinder Kaur were also honoured for securing positions in Panjab University. M.Ed toppers, to be honoured, included Prabhjot Kaur and Tejinder.

For the 2000-01, position holders, who were honoured include Lovely Cherian, Neelam Ahuja, Saloni Gupta, Simrandeep, Priyanka Puja, Simarjeet and Amrita Bhullar. The M.Ed toppers were Monika Kukkar, Jaskiran and Taranjit.

The chief guest, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, local Member of Parliament, delivered the convocation address. He congratulated all students, who received degrees and said that teachers were the future of the nation and must aim to serve society.

Speaking on the role of education, he said that it should aim at equipping the youth to meet the challenges of future. He said that the government planned to achieve 100 per cent literacy by 2010 and appealed to the NGOs to help in this cause.

Later, he released the college magazine titled ‘Sowing the seeds of altruism in the young hearts’ and appreciated its theme.

Earlier, the Principal, Dr (Ms) Satinder Dhillon, read out the annual report highlighting the achievements and activities of the college during the session.

Children get books, uniforms
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, May 19
The local unit of the Bharat Vikas Parishad distributed books, stationery items, school uniforms, shoes and school bags among 600 school children at a function held at the MCM DAV College, Sector 36, here today.

The items costing about Rs 3 lakh were given under the parishad’s project “Sahyog-2002”. Besides this, 50 students were also honoured for securing distinction in academic and other extra-curricular activities. Most of the students who were given help were from the slum areas and had scored over 60 per cent marks in their annual examinations.

Mr Udai Shanker Bhargava, general manager, Punjab National Bank, Chandigarh Zone, who was the guest of honour, gave Rs 20,000 on behalf of the bank to the parishad for such works.

Contests mark BCL’s 2nd anniversary
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, May 19
The British Council Library, which has carved a special place in the hearts of city residents within a short span of time, celebrated the second anniversary of its opening amid much fanfare, here today.

Expressing gratitude at the overwhelming support of people towards the growth of the library, Dr Morna Nance, Deputy Director, British Council, said the British Library here had witnessed a record growth within two years. “The library, which started with 2000 members, now has 3500 people as members,” she said. A story-writing and a poem-writing competitions were organised on the occasion.

The poem-writing competition was won by the Harindermohan Singh followed by Mr Satnam Singh Banwi while Mr Anirudh Dhanda and Mr Balkrishna Gupta were declared the first and second in the story-writing competition.

Astrology students get degrees
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 19
The convocation of the Chandigarh chapter of the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences (ICAS) was held at Musafir Bhavan here today.

Students who completed their two-year course in astrology were awarded their degrees. This was preceded by a national conference on “the role of astrology in marriage”.

“Since marriage covers a significant and eventful period of a man’s life, this theme of marriage was selected. Participants from across the country presented their research on the theme”, an organiser said.

Founded in 1988 by Dr B.V.Raman, the main objective of the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences is to bring astrology closer to the common man. Unless the knowledge of astrology was shared with the larger section of society, the masses will be at the mercy of a very few who knew the subject well.

The ICAS has been disseminating the knowledge of astrology without “discrimination and bias to all those interested in learning”. Till date at least 650 students have qualified for the certificates from this chapter, it was pointed out.

Justice S.N. Kapoor, national president, inaugurated the function by lighting the traditional lamp. This was the first-ever conference of the ICAS in the region, outside Delhi, where experts from different parts of the country converged for a day.

The participants in the function included Mr A.V. Sundaram, Mr U.S. Phulipani, Mr J.N. Sharma, Mr M.N. Kedar, Mr M. Anjaneyulu, Mr Pankaj Shiv Sud, Mr K. Rangachari, Mr R.L. Diwivedi, Mr K.R. Gaur, Mr N.D. Achint, Mr Ramesh Chintak, Mr N.P. Thareja, Mr B.N. Shukla, Mr S.K. Duggal and Mr R.L. Lamba.

CULTURE

Musically stronger than ever
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 19
Her style of singing has not varied with the years, nor has her share of commitment to music diminished. Having grown with time, Usha Uthup is more than relevant today.

In city for a performance today, the singer, who washed away the taboo of night club singing in India, clarified one thing for sure — that music has its own way of emerging and re-emerging.

With nothing new to tell, the woman repeated history and we loved to hear it as ever. Right from the big break in “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”, which was offered to Usha by Dev Anand to her numerous stage shows, the tale kept weaving itself with interesting anecdotes.

The real thing happened in 1969 when Usha emerged on the national scene as the pop singer of the times. Her rustic and husky voice drew many a people wild. It still does and more so for the fact that Usha sang in 13 Indian and eight foreign languages. Rising to this level, however, was not so easy for Usha who was dissuaded from singing at school because of her orthodox lineage.

As one looks at Usha today, one fails to relate with the days she started as a night club singer. But Usha remembers those days with passion and pride. The pride is only natural in view of the fact that Usha wiped off the stigma attached to night club singing. After years of dedication, she today has over 200 albums; soundtracks for 150 Hindi and regional films to her credit. She has also sung French, Spanish, Italian, Swahili, Zulu, Russian, Creole, Hebrew, Sinhala and Chinese.

She may have gone places, but her heart still lives in Kolkata, the place which allowed her to grow. As for achievements, she does not really weigh them. She only follows an optimistic path in life.

Musical treat at Press Club
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 19
For members of the Chandigarh Press Club in Sector 27, it was an evening of music and melody. With Punjabi singers treating them to rhythmic numbers typical of the land of Punjab, the audience sat through the programme with a fair deal of interest.

The occasion was a celebration of the latest cassette release by singer Bhupinder Babbal, who presented scores from his just released album. Present also on the occasion was Surinder Rehal, who did music for the album. Among the other singers who presented their items today was the famous Vinod Sehgal, the only man who has had the privilege of singing in Jagjit Singh's musical ventures.

Vinod Sehgal, however, did not present the songs the audience relates him with, like the famous “chhod aaye hum woh galiyaan” from Gulzar's “Maachis”. He rather presented some Punjabi melodies. Then came Lucky Singh, with some numbers from his last album. The audience was enthralled with his “dil rakh lai bhaven jaan rakh lai, bhangre ch dhol da tu maan rakh lai”. Bal Mukand Sharma presented some comic sequences.

The chief guest, Mr Partap Singh Bajwa, Punjab PWD Minister, was honoured on the occasion.