The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Attempt to trace history of PU
Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 13
Panjab University is drawing up a documented record to capture the history of the institution, which is perhaps the first of its kind among the universities of the country.

The compilation of history is being done by Dr M. Rajivlochan, Department of History. The minor research project covers the period between 1967 and current times.

The project has been covered under the prominent heads of faculty research and work, changing nature of students and student bodies, financial administration, administration and relation with society. Current financial problems were not a recent development for the university as it faced severe resource crunch in1930s when the university was even forced to close down certain departments, preliminary research indicates.

It is widely believed that no historical records were available even about the leading universities of the country though attempts were made. The best available documents were the annual reports. Dr Rajivlochan submitted a project covering the period between 1967 to modern times. The period is important because 1967 was a turning point in the history of the university. After creation of Haryana state, the university took up its current shape. The university came up in 1882. So, instead of tracing up a period which has ‘lesser relevance’, he has attempted a later period.

Dr Rajivlochan said he was attempting a future-oriented research. The effort is not just to store the past but to see the long-term aspects of its findings. An attempt is being made to predict problems of the future times and possible solutions.

The research has indicated that the university came from a Christian tradition. However, till the mid-80s the university was not purely democratic as it is in today’s form where ‘real’ democratisation has become the order of the day. Earlier, the power was concentrated in the hands of the Vice-Chancellors, heads of departments and deans.

However, since mid-80s the university took strong steps to change the order. The most important changes were rotation of headship and emergence of committees in departments for collective decision-making. There are certain drawbacks in the current scheme of things. However, democratic values were best represented in the present form.

There is also the fact that certain departments heads were pioneers in their own right and their names were seen as representatives of the institutional excellence in different subjects, particularly sciences.

He said the broad parameters of research were: ‘What we were in the past. What we are now, and what will we be the past is not golden or bronze. We can chart details because good institutions require memories to function. Without memories you cannot look to the future’.

Mrs World for NIFD function
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 13
A lot of celebrity influx in this city happens, courtesy National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD). Tomorrow yet another representative from the world of glamour will be present on the NIFD’s Sector 8 campus to formally launch the three-year BSc degree course by admitting the first student to the stream.

Only about a month back, NIFD tied up with Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University to launch the aforesaid course in the three main streams of designing. So NIFD will now offer BSc fashion design, BSc textile design and BSc interior design. The idea behind the venture is to blend academics with practical glamour.

Aditi Govitrikar, a doctor turned model turned actress has to her credit the coveted Mrs World title for the year 2001. She has also been a Gladrags supermodel and has featured in the ads of many prestigious brands including Coke (opposite Hrithik Roshan), Ponds, Rexona, Margo and many more. Not just that Aditi has also made a mark as one of the most sought after models in the music videos. She featured in Adnan Sami’s venture along with Salil Ankola. The latest in the line of Aditi’s achievements is her film Soch, which will have her co star with Arbaz Khan, Sanjay Kapoor and Raveena Tandon. She also had a role in 16 December, which released recently.

COURTS

DISTRICT COURTS
5-day police remand for murder accused
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, June 13
An accused, Balwinder Singh Brar, who had allegedly killed a property dealer, Baljinder Singh, in 1998 was today further remanded in five-day police custody by a local court.

Brar was produced before the UT Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Mr S.S Bhardwaj, in the afternoon. The police had sought the seven- day remand of the accused on the ground that the revolver used in the murder and the car used by Brar yet to be recovered. The police stated before the magistrate that the accused had hidden the weapon in Uttaranchal and it was about 540 km from the city therefore the accused should be remanded. The police also informed the court that the accused had sold the car to some person in Agra.

The accused had made a statement before the court that he had sold the car to some person last year. After hearing the police plea the magistrate remanded the accused to police custody till June 18.

Brar was arrested by the police from Faridkot on June 11. As per the prosecution, the deceased, Baljinder Singh, was allegedly shot dead by the accused in Sector 21 in July 1998. He was brought by the crime branch of the police on a production warrant.

After being arrested in a NDPS case by Punjab Police, Balwinder, was undergoing treatment at a de-addiction centre in Faridkot and was to sent to jail yesterday. According to police sources, Brar had fired bullets at the victim when he was going to drop his daughter to school. The bone of contention was the house in which the property dealer was living.

Bail granted

A local court today granted bail to an accused, Amit Grover, and Neha who were allegedly involved in a kidnapping case. The two were granted bail on the furnishing bail bond of Rs 20, 000 each.

As per the prosecution, Amit and his sister had allegedly kidnapped, Hemant and Dinesh, from Sector-37.

Court direction

A local court has restrained the defendants, Mr R.K Khanchi, and others from using the letter head of the PGIMTA and also from acting as officer-bearers of the PGIMTA and to do any kind of activity in the name of PGIMTA till June 14, 2002. The court has also issued notice to the defendants for June 14, 2002 for filling of process fees.

CULTURE

A jazzy offering from jazz girl
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 13
She exudes confidence in plenty. And perhaps she has all the reasons to, at least till the time her debut music album ‘Yeh Wadiyaan’ fetches good sales records for her. Released on May 2 by Musiccurry, the album is fetching a world of public attention for Jeanne Michael, a Mumbai girl, who is trained in jazz. The first lot of fame came home to Jeanne when she became MTV’s Ubharta Sitara for the month of May. So all the month, she featured on the prime time MTV shows, the hottest being Loveline, which had Jeanne answer Malaika Arora and Cyrus’s queries about the album, as also its “very famous” video which has Jeanne sporting a mermaid look.

Ever since May, the girl has been busy touring the country, with 70 shows already to her credit. This day saw her halt at Chandigarh for the promotion of her album as also her future projects as a girl dedicated to music, “or so she says.” The conversation obviously centred round the album, its spirit and its tunes. ‘Yeh Wadiyaan’ has seven songs, all composed by Jeanne, who is trained both in Indian and Western music traditions.

“I learnt Hindi music from Suresh Wadkar. From there I went on to learn jazz under Ramona and Noel Botherick. I also took training in the Western classical piano from the Trinity College, London. With the knowledge of these streams of music, I have been able to handle my album better. People have responded well to the blend of Indian and Western rhythms in my work. We have used African chords to enhance the effect of music.”

Although Jeanne composed the tunes herself, she took help in music arrangement from Salim Sulaiman. “He took the arrangement to an altogether different level. The songs are all about moods of romance, of hope and of happiness. The music blends the lyrics by Nafies Alam very well,” informed the singer. The visual part were further adorned by Rachael and Bina, who shot the video in hauntingly beautiful locations. As Jeanne said today, “I wanted the video to be shot on some outside location — some ruins, mountains or an ocean perhaps. I was happy when my directors agreed to my suggestion. Actually the title song is a very soulful song, which needed open spaces to grown further. The whole album is about the flight of spirit.”

Jeanne added that she consciously fought against the mundane elements which hamper the success of music albums these days. “There was no idea in wasting the effort on trashy, bubble gum pop songs. I wanted the songs to have substance and the video to have some visual appeal. Hence the blend of Indian and Western rhythms.”

A fan of A.R. Rahman and Chitra, Jeanne is now concentrating on shows. “The idea is to come close to people who are my listeners. There are a couple of offers for playback singing, but there is some time before I accept them.” Jeanne also had a short stint at acting when she portrayed Draupadi in Lillete Dubey’s ‘Mahabharata’, the musical.

NEW RELEASE
Giving love a new dimension

Mukta Arts Limited with Kapoor and Kaushik Entertainment, presents its first project, ‘Badhai Ho Badhai’ that will hit the silver screen here at Jagat in Chandigarh and Suraj in Panchkula. “Let’s celebrate.... ”, is the baseline of the film. It stars Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Keerti Reddy, Vinay Jain, Kader Khan, Amrish Puri,Govind Namdeo, Anang Desai and Farida Jalal.

The film as the director Satish Kaushik puts, is a warm, tender, funny and enthralling family entertainer. It is also a love story that gives love a whole new dimension.

Satish Kaushik, the director who has had three commercially hit films in a row — ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’, ‘Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai’ and Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai,’ has come up with a love triangle and it’s a film Shilpa Shetty is all excited about. She plays a Punjabi girl ‘Banto’ who realises that love is not just about spreading happiness around, but also means sacrifice. Keerti Reddy also play an interesting role.

Sharmishtha Roy’s art direction is to be seen, to believe it. The film has cinematography by Rajeev Jain, choreography by Ahmed Khan, editing by Sanjay Verma. Javed Akhtar has penned the lyrics and the star composer Any Malik has come up with innovative scores in the film. DP