EDUCATION

Sri Aurobindo lectures
Tribune News Service

Professor Pande’s lecture was followed by a discussion in which Prof Rekha Jhanji, Prof Dharmanand Sharma, Prof Satya P Gautam, Prof D.P. Maini, Prof V.T. Sebastian, Prof Vikram Singh and Prof Asha maudgil participated. Prof Bhuvan Chandel concluded the session.

Microsoft students given certificates
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 25
The SPIC-Microsoft ‘Centre of Excellence’ has presented certificates to its students. The certificates were given to the students by Mr Vivek Atray, Director IT cum CEO SPIC, Chandigarh Administration, in a function at the SPIC–Microsoft office at Punjab Engineering College this evening.

The SPIC-Microsoft Centre of Excellence, which has come up as a result of an MoU signed between the Chandigarh Administration and Microsoft has been functioning since September 2001 in Punjab Engineering College campus, Chandigarh. The centre is used for the development of skills on Microsoft Technologies for the emerging software industry in UT. The trainers are certified MCTs for the courses being conducted by them. The centre also provides organised short term courses for executives of corporate bodies, including private companies, as per their requirement.

Fifty students completed their respective courses in various streams like MCSE, C& C++, web designing, visual basic, auto cad and MS Office.

Three-day science fair begins
Our Correspondent

SAS Nagar, October 25
A three-day science fair for schools of SAS Nagar subdivision opened at Sant Isher Singh Model Senior Secondary School here yesterday.

The fair was divided into three categories, elementary, secondary and senior-secondary. The quiz and chart-making competitions were reserved for secondary classes.

Students presented a number of exhibits covering different aspects of science. These included items relating to management of waste products, recycling of waste material, drip irrigation, nature cure, overhead car parking, afforestation and deforestation, new agricultural techniques and safe storage of grains.

CULTURE

Theatre fest starts with ‘Martyrima’
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 25
The language was certainly Greek to all but not the emotions or the underlying message that reflected the people’s desire to control their destiny which was the hallmark of “Martyrima”, the inaugural play of the Festival of Greek Theatre, organised by Chandigarh Institute of Performing Arts (CIPA) at Tagore Theatre here yesterday.

The play staged by artistes of Omma Studio, Creta, Greece, proved the fact once again that irrespective of the language and cultural difference in the two countries, people of both the nations could be united by a common thread, the desire to rewrite their destiny.

As the three women characters, Nstazia Fillipovna, Algia Epatsina and Fragoyiannou, come on the stage, they create a supernatural aura.

As the story unfolds, the plot takes you to a scene when the three character spring into life and confront the writer, (played by Antonis Diamantis who is also the writer-director of the play) with the vital question — “why the writer had condemned them not to be able to change their destiny” — and with a sudden frenzy condemn the writer to death.

Shown in small fragments, the play show their anger, their helplessness and also their power of reasoning as they finally come to an agreement to give the writer a lease of life to defend himself.

With this sensibility, the play finally goes into two original novels, throwing light on the events that took place in Dostoyevski’s “Idiot” and “Marte Rima”, a novel written by last century’s Greek writer A. Papadiamantis, translated as “The Woman murderer”.

The Omma Studio, which has deviated from the traditional Greek theatre to adopt more modern methods, has been performing both on stage and streets world-wide eversince its inception in 1991. “The traditional Greek theatre is derived from the great tragedies but we are one of the three groups in Greece who have started with experimenting theatre,” says Antonis Diamantis, leader of the six-member troupe, who believes that theatre offers ample opportunities for research.

Before coming to perform in India for the first time, Antonis’s brush with Indian culture had been a Kathakali dance item which he had seen during a festival in Athens. “We have been adopting literature from different nations but have not had the chance to adopt any Indian literature so far,” he says. The group will be staying in Chandigarh till November 6 and will perform in Patiala, besides different venues in Chandigarh.

NEW RELEASE
‘Deewangi’ — don’t miss this suspense thriller

NEHA Arts presentation, Nitin Manmohan’s ‘‘Deewangi’’ has generated a lot of pre-release interest because the promos of this film have an interesting baseline: ‘‘you will be deceived by what you see......’’ . This is said to be a typical musical murder mystery. The film has been produced by Nitin Manmohan and has been written and directed by Anees Bazmee. The film opens today at Aarti and Shingaar, Ludhiana.

After ‘‘Humraaz’’ Akshaye Khanna is back with ‘‘Deewangi’’. Earlier Sanjay Dutt, who was to do Akshaye’s role, and Karisma Kapoor opted out due to busy schedules. Then luck held true for the sizzling Urmila Matondkar. She has been roped in for another powerful role.

Ajay Devgan plays the role of a musical genius who initiates Urmila in the craft. She rises to become a pop star. She meets hotshot criminal lawyer Akshaye Khanna. Ajay Devgan is accused of a gruesome murder of a musical magnate. Urmila believes in Ajay’s innocence and requests Akshaye to help defend him. Will Akshaye be successful in unraveling the murder mystery ? Can he prove Ajay’s innocence and find the killer? Find out in the disturbing and suspenseful thriller ‘‘Deewangi’’.

This film also has Farida Jalal, Vijayendra Ghatge, Tiku Talsania, Seema Biswas, Tanaaz Karim, Nirmal Pandey, Nishigandha Wad and Rana Jung Bahadur in supporting roles. Suresh Oberoi, Suhasini Mulay and Anil Nagrath are in special appearances. It has cinematography by Pushan Kriplani, action by Bhiku Verma and Pappu Verma and choreography by Vaibhavi Merchant. ‘‘Devdas’’ fame composer Ismail Darbar has scored the music for ‘‘Deewangi’’ which has lyrics by Nusrat Badr and Shahid Bijnori. The title song ‘‘Main aashiqi, main bekhudi....’’ by Sunidhi Chauhan and ‘‘Pyar se pyare tum ho .....’’ by Sonu Nigam and Kavita Krishnamurthy will appeal to the listeners. Anees Bazmee, the writer-director of ‘‘Deewangi’’ is out to prove that murder mysteries are not out of vogue. That a good suspense thriller will work. — DP

Warmth of Carnatic music beats October chill
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 25
It was a family affair at Pracheen Kala Kendra this evening and its warmth spilled over to the audience who came to get a taste of Carnatic vocal recital performed by vocalist V L Tulasi Vishwanath, who was accompanied by her two brothers P. Nanda Kumar, a violinist and mridangam artiste P. Jaya Bhaskar.

Tulasi, a Grade ‘A’ All India Radio Artiste from Andhra Pradesh demonstrated her perfection over ‘Shruti’ as she took the audience to the true spirit of Carnatic music — the sharp twists of notes and the underlying rhythm which is the lifeline of this particular genre of Indian classical music.

Tulsi began her recital with a “Varnam” in raaga Saveri followed by a composition of “dekshithar” in raaga Hamsdwani that praised Lord Ganesha in the most appealing way. The third piece “pancharatna keertana” of the saint composer Thyagaraja, set to raaga “Sri” was presented with skill and grace. Her mellifluous voice ranging over three octaves and her clear diction made each piece a pleasure to hear.

During a one-and-a-half hour programme, Tulasi presented compositions in raaga “kalyana vasantham”, raaga “Alpana” and raaga “jayanthshri” but it was her popular kirti of Thygaraja in raaga “abheri” and taal ‘adi’ that received thunderous applause from the audience. The item started by Tulasi and Nanada Kumar with ragalapana and ragamallaika was rounded up by Jaya Bhaskar with a solo piece on his mridangam.

Tulasi also presented Meera Bhajan in raaga “kalavati” and moved onto a folk composition of Annamacharya. Her Bhajan of Swathi Thirunal in raaga sindhu bhairavi war followed by her concluding item — a grand thillana set in raaga “dhanashri” just complemented the mood.

‘Soaring’ high on its tune
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 25
When Sidharth Soni, a Class IX student of St John’s High School, Sector 26, had decided last April to join the “The Soaring Eagles”, the first and only school orchestra in the city, he would never have imagined that the orchestra would one day scale new heights. The orchestra comprises today 11 members headed by music teacher Michaelangelo Francis.

On a brief visit to the school campus, the correspondent found the orchestra having last-minute rehearsals for its tomorrow’s perform at the school fete.

Mr Francis said his dream initiated about six months back was now on the verge of getting realised. “One needs to realise his potential and channel it to achieve his goal in life,” he said.

However, it is not an individual effort that has made “The Soaring Eagles” a rage among students. “It was Brother D’ Abreu and Principal Ms Cheema who motivated us and gave necessary support to form an orchestra in the school”, he said. The orchestra made its first public appearance in a festival held by Christian Brother schools in India at Kolkata.

With the confidence they gathered during the festival and with a renewed vigour, the boys are ready to make another public appearance tomorrow on their school premises.

The boys who will perform include Alok John Barla, Shivdeep Gagat, Mohit Vasudeva, Sidharth Soni, Ramit Mehra, Francis Joseph, Anupam Mitra, Pranav Sehgal, Ankit Vashisht, Nishank Jaura and Rohan Mittal.

Shael’s latest musical offering
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 25
After showing his worth in two albums ‘Kahan hai tu’ and ‘Teri kuchh yaadein’, Shael Oswal, the new singer on the block, is ready with yet another musical offering. While his earlier works in music have been all about the range of his voice and his soothing rendering of lyrics, the latest one due for release shortly, is a blend of foot tapping and soulful numbers.

In town today for a live performance at the ETC Punjabi live programme in SAS Nagar where Gursewak Mann and Harbhajan Mann also performed, Shael talked about ‘Hasna kamaal’, the new album as a dancing and foot tapping album with assorted numbers like ‘Hasna kamaal’, ‘Thath wakhrey’ and ‘Put Jattan de.’ The lyrics by Avtar Singh Babb and the soul stirring music by Gaurav Dyal team up to add worth to the album.

‘Hasna Kamaal’, the title song of the album is a foot tapping Punjabi number, shot in the ambience of one of the Mumbai discotheques. Rest of the songs have also been picturised to suit the tone and tenor of lyrics. As for Shael, also the MD of Lucky Star Entertainment, which is releasing ‘Hasna kamaal’, life is all about music.

The present album, he says, has something for everybody. “It touches the heart; the music we have managed is soothing and loud at the same time; the lyrics have a meaning.” Video direction of the album has been done by Jagdish Mali.

New art gallery in city
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 25
For those interested in buying aesthetic stuff from different parts of India, the newly opened art gallery in Sector 20 market is the place to visit. Thrown open informally yesterday morning, the gallery houses a collection of the finest pieces of art from various parts of the country.

Bastar tribal collection that makes Madhya Pradesh important to art lovers and finely-carved furniture from the land of desert are the main attractions of the gallery. The furniture has been procured by interior designer Priyanka Gupta from traditional carvers of wood in Jaipur and Jodhpur. Shisham furniture from Jodhpur at once catches the attention of viewers.

The rest of the range includes mixed media paintings from some established and upcoming artists, antique artefacts, ‘jharokhas’, fancy mirrors, designer wall murals, landscape trays, bonsai and much more.