The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Seminar for science teachers
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 18
Ms Prem Kanata Brara, Principal of the Government Inservice Training Centre, while addressing a seminar for science teachers urged the teachers to be more dedicated and scientific in their approach.

“To make the teaching of the subject more effective, a teacher should concentrate on teaching aids and follow latest trends and techniques of education,” said Ms Brara.

The 12-day special science seminar was recently organised at the centre under the chairmanship of Ms Brara.

The director of the seminar, Dr Sashi Trehan, explained teaching modules. Mr Iqbal Singh delivered a lecture on population education depicting latest data of world and Indian population with data and personal experience on the topic.

Mr Davinder Singh Chhina delivered a talk on multi-cultural and human rights education and Ms Sarabjeet Kaur on adolescence education. Mr Kewal Singh Sidhu talked on Moel Concept and Ms Aradhgna Nanda on periodic table and energy transformation.

Dr Trehan inspired the teachers to prepare illustrated projects on various aspects of science education.

Puppet show at school
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 18
A puppet show was arranged by Lovely Lotus Play School for its students yesterday. Rajasthani artistes enthralled the students. It was both educational as well as entertaining.

The puppet, Anpad Abdulla, conveyed effectively to the students why education was important. But it was the horse puppet walking, trotting and galloping the children enjoyed the most.

The magician going headless sent them into splits.

The “sapera” puppet with the snake puppet interacting, sometimes the snake dancing and sometimes coming to bite the “sapera” fascinated the children.

Dancers mesmerise at NZCC festival
Asha Ahuja

A Kabalia dancer from Rajasthan lifts a razor with her eyelashes during a performance in Ludhiana on Wednesday. — IV

Ludhiana, September 18
Dancers from different states, performing at the Crafts, Cultural and Food Festival being organised at the grounds of Government College for Women, have simply wowed residents of the city with their exotic dances. And have compelled audience to say ‘encore, encore’.

According to Mr R.T. Jindal, Director NZCC, some troupes, like the one performing ‘ Brij Barsana Holi’ dance, have impressed the audience so much that they have been asked to prolong their stay in the city. And rightfully so. For the Ludhianvis have not had enough of this dance. Barsana was Radha's native village and this folk dance was performed by Radha and ‘gopis’.

Similarly, girls of the Kabalia tribe from Rajasthan, in their black outfits strewn with big chunky mirrors and cawri shells, are casting a spell on the audience. As the four girls perform ‘nagin’ dance, their supple body movements simply mesmerise the audience.

The girls place blades, coins and needles on the ground and with agility bend backwards and lift these objects with their eyelashes while male members of the troupe play divine music on their instruments.

Another dance which the audience is liking is ‘sidhi damat’ dance. The dance has an interesting tale behind its origin. Some people, from South Africa, came to India about 700 years ago. Though they settled in India, but kept links with their old traditions. Hence they pay obeisance to deity Gaur Baba in their own style.

Dressed in feathers, their dance movements are strong, fast and vibrant on an African beat. During the dance, they throw a coconut up in the air and break it with their heads.

‘Nati’ dance from Himachal Pradesh is not the usual slow dance, typical of the state. The dance is from Sirmour where girls dance with lighted diyas.

‘Banjara’ dance from Andhra Pradesh is a riot of colours and the traditional gypsy outfits dazzle the audience. ‘Mayur nritya’, peacock dance, surpasses other dances in grace and gentle movements.

‘Ghoomar’ from Harayana and the other very famous ‘bamrala’ originated 300 years ago to motivate soldiers, with big colourful ‘nagadas’ and ‘thap’ to stir patriotic feelings. The dance, in those days, motivated the soldiers to fight their enemies with greater spirit and now it is mode of entertainment.

Of course, Punjabis love‘ gidda ’and ‘bhangaras’ so no dance festival can be complete without these. besides, ‘bhands’ and ‘mirasis’ also entertain the audience with their wit during the festival. The colourful ‘garba’ and ‘dandiya’ from Gujarat have also found many admirers.

‘No appreciation for art here’
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 18
The artisans coming from far off places with their artefacts to participate in the ongoing National Craft, Food and Cultural Mela at the Government College for Women here have been a disappointed lot. With a dream of getting good gains from this industrial city, the craftsmen feel sorry as the city residents show reluctance in buying their products.

Choudhry Lachhman Singh, a potter from Delhi, who has put up a stall with his team-mates in the mela, is a disappointed man. The stall displays a variety of pottery items starting from soup bowls, flower pots, decorative hangings, ‘handi’ sets to plates, milk mugs and water jugs made of ceramics. “One can put these items in oven and microwaves. These require a lot of labour and time. We have painted the products in florescent colours keeping in mind the latest trend. These range from Rs 90 to Rs 300 depending on the item, but still it is not picking up”, he said.

Mahinder Singh, another artisan from Faridabad, displays a wide variety of terracota items at his stall. He said,”It has been 3-4 days now, I have not been able to understand what the people demand. Earlier, I thought that the mela was not crowd pulling due to rains, but not many visitors are coming even now. We have everything and the range is from Rs 10 to Rs 1,000. There are small as well as big items like pots, stools, tables etc. It is unfortunate that public response is not good”.

Sunil Kumar, an artisan from Kurja, Uttar Pradesh, complained that the city residents would ask a number of questions regarding the products but were hardly interested in buying. “They come and discuss about the material and colours and start doing bargaining. How can we sell an item for Rs 50 when actually it costs us about Rs 90 and even more. I feel that people come here to pass their time”, he lamented. Sohan Lal, an artisan from Haryana, said he had already put up the stalls of his items at places like Chandigarh, Suraj Kund Mela, Mumbai and Kolkata, but this was his first visit to the industrial city. “I feel that people have no taste for the art here. From the local people, I got to know that they would spend several thousand rupees in a showroom but when they get those items at much reasonable prices from here, they would hesitate in buying”, said Sohan Lal.