The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

UGC team visits depts
Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 17
The collaboration of Panjab University with the Fermi Lab, USA, in discovery of the top quark tops the list of achievements in “ recent breakthroughs in research” which has been supplied to the visiting team from the University Grants Commission.

It is worthwhile to mention that the discovery of the top quark was undertaken as a part of an international experiment (DZERO experiment) where several countries were collaborating. The university claims to have developed “ the first generally viable methodology for synthetic elaboration of tertiary amines through Lewis acid complexation”.

PU also mentions to have discovered a new synthetic drug (Chandonium) for anaesthesia and transfer of drug-development technology for a herbal drug (pile medicine) through MoU for global marketing.

A university team has also worked on ecosystem changes following India-Asia collision, leading to an established record of the evolution of whale from a land-based animal in the Himalayas. In the field of arts, the university has contributed to the ascription of the style of ‘pahari’ paintings on the basis of artists and their family traditions. New research has also been carried out in Buddhist art and iconography.

The visiting UGC team today visited a majority of the teaching departments and also interacted with staff. The team will also visit laboratories and the library.

In a related aspect, the publication of books and monograph has gone down this time. Against 73 publications last year, the university recorded only 48 during 2001-2002. However, the number of research papers has gone up from 560 to 651 this year. Interestingly, the number of teachers who participated in national seminars has gone up from 423 to 432 during the same period. However, the participation in international seminars has gone down from 156 to 85.

The number of research scholars working in the university has gone up from 347 during 2000-2001 to 498 in 2001-2002. The university had 339 research scholars in 1999-2000. The number of projects undertaken and consultancy work generated through the Centre for industry-institute partnership has gone up to 30 in 2001-2002 from 13 in 1999-2000. There were 27 projects undertaken during 2000-2001.

PU professor on UGC panel
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 17
Prof Shankarji Jha, former Chairman and Head of the Department of Sanskrit, Panjab University, Chandigarh, has been nominated as a member of the expert committee constituted by the UGC to visit Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University, Puri (Orissa), to assess the financial requirements of the prestigious body in the 10th Plan.

He has also been asked to evaluate the performance of the university in the Ninth Plan. He will assist the UGC panel to determine the thrust and direction of the multidimensional growth of the university. Prof Jha will participate in the Puri discussions from October 21 to 23 “as a subject expert”.

Talent hunt contest begins
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 17
A two-day talent hunt contest began at Government College, Sector 11, here today, to select the best students for the forthcoming youth festival and other cultural programmes organised from time to time.

A debate, poetry recitation and histrionics contest, organised today, elicited tremendous response from students who participated in large numbers.

The talent hunt was inaugurated by the Principal of the college, Dr S.N. Singla. He exhorted the students to imbibe the spirit of discipline through co-curricular activities.

The debate on “Is war the only solution for Kashmir?” saw participation from 25 students while poetry recitation had almost the same number of participants. Poems on a variety of themes, including patriotic fervour, wit, humour and satire were recited.

The results of today’s contests are: Debate — Naveen Sangwan (1), Karan Bhardwaj (2), Aman Garg (3); Poetry recitation — Abhilesh Gupta (1), Abhishek (2), Naveen sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh (3).

COURTS

Rail tribunal order upheld
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 17
Coming down heavily on the railway authorities for being “totally unorganised” and treating passengers worse than chattels by issuing tickets without verifying the availability of seats, Mr Justice J.S. Narang of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the Chairman of the Railway Board to improvise a method for ensuring that the commuters travelled comfortably after being provided with seats they had paid for.

Upholding the orders passed by the Railway Tribunal granting Rs 2 lakh compensation to a passenger injured after falling from a train, Mr Justice Narang ruled: “Expansion of Railway Department and laying down of more lines is a commendable work but can it be allowed at the cost of respect and dignity of a citizen. He purchases the tickets, pays for travel but after accepting the money, the Railway Department is not even bothered as to whether he has been given a seat or not.... He reaches the train, there is no seat available. Is it not an act of fraud which has been played by the railway authorities upon poor passengers? Will it not fall within the ambit and mischief of Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. This aspect also needs to be kept in mind by the railway authorities”.

Statements recorded
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 17
The statements of two witnesses — Mr Ramesh Chander, and Mr Charanjit Singh — were recorded in the Beant Singh assassination case before the UT District and Sessions Judge, Mr H.S Bhalla, in the courtroom in Model Burail Jail.

The witnesses, Ramesh Chander, an employee of Laxmi Hotel, situated in Jaipur in his statement before the judge said that two persons visited the hotel on November 7, 1995, and one of them entered two names — Jaskaran and Rajiv — in the register. The witness added that the next day the two left the hotel. The CBI produced the register in the court.

CULTURE

Wings of desire and of melody....
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 17
Time has not passed his voice by. With melodies as fresh as ever, ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh once again dwelt upon music to caress pain with lilting notes. As always, listening to him was a relief to the soul. For all the time that he adorned the beautifully-done-up stage, care did not seem to press one down even a bit. Moments came laden with peace as intense lyrics by the greatest poets of our times were presented at the Leisure Valley in Jagjit Singh’s ever adaptable voice — coated with sweetness at one moment’ with pain at the other.

And even though the king of Indian light classical music kept wandering about the insignificant details of sound arrangement at the venue, the thirsting listeners waited for the maestro to don the familiar, inimitable look. After a host of latest musical numbers from films, like ‘Kiska chehra, hosh waalon ko khabar kya, tera chehra hain aaine jaisa’ and many more ...came the much-awaited classics that have placed Jagjit Singh at an altar, from where he still reigns undisputed.

Some of his old world charm came alive when he struck evergreen melodies, right from ‘Kal chaudhvin ki raat thi and ye daulat bhi le lo to aapko dekhkar dekhta reh gaya’ and ...the famous ‘Honthon se chho lo tum’ picturised years ago on Anita Raj and Raj Babbar. Accompanying Jagjit Singh in his musical pursuit tonight were Deepak Pandit on violin, Akhlaq Hussain on harmonium, Arshad Ahmad on guitar, Javed Sheikh on dholak, Girdhar Prasad and Abhinav Upadhyaya on tabla.

The evening, that took an hour to roll, took off from the notes of ‘Kiska chehra ab main dekhoon’...and blossomed later when Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s soul- stirring lyrics spilled from Jagjit Singh’s voice. In a fresh context, Batalvi’s song ‘Mai ni mai mere geetan de’ ...touched the heart once again. Yet another presentation that hit the listeners was the timeless Punjabi folk song ‘Saun da mahina yaaron’...and the richly-worded piece from Jagjit’s Mirza Ghalib repertory ‘Hazaron khwahishen aisi....’

While all was well with the mood of the evening, there was something missing. The legend in Jagjit Singh took a world of time to surface today, as the vocalist remained caught up with the sound effects that were fairly satisfactory. After every five minutes, the king in concert left the musical fort to interrupt with the sound man, directing him throughout. Although the result produced better sound, the gathering which wanted Jagjit Singh to settle, remained restless. Finally when minor reflections of the legend began to surface the listeners lapped up musical moments putting their hands together for the singer. The first applause of the evening came with ‘Saun da mahina yaaron....’

At the end, infectious as strains of melody are, they travelled from the level of the singer to envelope the ambience with a cover of melody. With its lilting touch and melodic bearing Jagjit Singh’s music infected the audience thoroughly. So thoroughly that at least hundred people chosen to stand and consume music rather than leaving the venue on account of “less seats”. Another 50 or so remained seated on the floor of the Leisure Valley ground to have some doze of light classical music.

New dimension to comedy
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 17
Comedian Jagtar Jaggi is bringing a new dimension to his comedy — drama, — and his latest album “Fukrian” is full of it — dramatised comedy interspersed with funny songs.

His digs at the latest scandals in pop culture to the tips on the road to success is just what you need to come out of your daily stress.

“Comedy comes out best when it comes in the form of conversation,” says Jaggi who has been having a successful innings as a comedian after his first solo album, “Gupp Hai Ji Gupp” and “Chuglian” last year. Jaggi’s career had started as an accompanist with popular comedian Bhagwant Mann and he stayed as one for more than a decade.

Jaggi at present is geared up to anchor a comedy show for Zee Alpha Punjabi. Facing the camera is not something new for him as Jaggi has already acted as the lead comedian in a number of Punjabi feature films, including the national award winner “Main Ma Punja Dee”, “Sukh” and “Nain Preeto De” and a number of Punjabi teleserials. Along with Bhagwant Mann, Jaggi has recorded about 20 audio cassettes and a few video albums like “Adi Tappa”, “Hai Shawa”, “Billo” and others.

NEW RELEASES
A tribute to ‘Pancham da’

Encouraged with the success of “Everybody Says I'm fine”, filmmaker Viveck Vaswani, in a bid to be different, has churned out a low budget film.

Metalight Productions Private Limited, in association with Insight Productions Private Limited, has produced “Dil Vil Pyar Vyar ”(DVPV) starring R. Madhvan, Jimmy Shergill, Namrata Shirodkar, Sonali Kulkarni, Hrishita Bhatt, Bhawna Pani , Sanjay Suri and Rakesh Bapat, besides Gulshan Grover, Kiran Kumar and Asrani. The film is a tribute to R. D. Burman and opens today at Orient.

“ Dil Vil Pyar Vyar” has four love stories and 13 songs based on late R. D. Burman's music, recreated as the “new sound of music” by music composer Babloo Chakraborty. Producer Viveck Vaswani says this is his way of paying tribune to “Pancham da”.

DVPV is shot in four countries with 22 sets and relatively new faces. Screenplay is by Sudip Sen and Sanjiv Puri has penned the dialogues.

Model-turned-actress Deepanita Sharma, Mini Mathur and Riya Sen make a special appearance in the film. Directed by debutant Anand Mahadevan, this multistarrer promises music with a new touch, something tried for the first time.

Sequel to‘ Vastav’ “Vaastav - Part 2 ”, “Pratibimb” and finally “Hathyar”, this Venus Tapes and Records presentation has Mahesh Manjrekar as the writer-director. The film will be released today at Shingaar and Sangeet.

Mahesh Manjrekar says “Hathyar begins where “Vaastav” ends. The film is based on underworld and focuses on the plight of families of gangsters.

This film stars Sanjay Dutt, Namrata Shirodkar, Sharad Kapoor, Shakti Kapoor, Sachin Khedekar, Shivaji Satam, Reema Lagoo, Deepak Tijori, Harsh Chhaya, Pankaj Berry, Gulshan Grover and Ashima Bhalla. Shilpa Shetty plays Sanjay Dutt's conscience keeper in the film. Shagun Vaagh is the co-producer.

“Hathyar” has cinematography by Vijay Arora, action by Mohinder Verma, dance direction by Raju Khan and Ganesh Acharya and music by Anand Raaj Anand. Let us see how this sequel of “Vaastav” performs at the box-office. DP

SEE IT COMING
New name to secret agent genre
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 17
Catapulting the secret agent genre into the new millennium comes Revolution studios’ venture, “XXX”, which will hit the screens in the city tomorrow.

Starring Vin Diesel of “The Fast and Furious” fame and Samuel L. Jackson, one of Hollywood’s most-acclaimed motion picture performers, “XXX” explores the daring exploits of former extreme sports athlete, Xander Cage (Diesel), who is notorious for his death defying stunts.

Betting he can succeed where other conventional spies have failed, Xander is recruited by NSA agent Gillbones (Samuel L. Jackson ) to become a different kind of undercover agent.

Enlisted for a dangerous covert mission, he must use all his extreme skills to combat a clever, organised and ruthless enemy far beyond the scope of his experience.

Rob Cohen and Neal H.Mority, producer and director, respectively, of “The Fast and the Furious” again team up with the hero of that film, Vin Diesel, to deliver what is claimed to be the Mother of all action-adventure thrillers.

Dazzling virtuosity binds audience
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 17
Ms Asha Arpit of “Own Fantasy, Own Art” a spiritual and cultural outfit, has brought a slice of UNESCO’s “Decade for Peace and Non-Violence” celebrations to town by starting a series of cultural functions.

The first of the series, “Laheren”, was organised at Chandigarh Press Club in Sector 27 here today.

With an objective to spread peace, love and devotion, the programme incorporated bhajans and Sujiana music by different artistes.

Jyoti, a folk singer from Haryana, started the programme with Meera bhajans and the mood continued with Nanak Shah and Manak Ali, Sufi singers from Malerkotla, rendering ‘kalaam’ on Bulle Shah.

The programme was interspersed with spiritual and peace talks by various speakers. Ms Shashi Gulati from Chandigarh Chapter of the Art of Living asked people to seek inner peace before they proceeded to search world peace.

Mr S.V. Singh, DGP Punjab, presided over the function, while Mr K.C. Sharma, Finance Commissioner, Haryana, was the guest of honour.

Ms Arpit, who is currently busy in work on her Doctorate degree in “Vaishnav, Bhakti and Kirtan”, plans to organise similar programmes in different corners of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.