EDUCATION

Luminous-2003 organised
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, March 5
Twenty two students from different Engineering Colleges of India participated in Luminous-2003, a technical paper presentation contest, organised by the Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology (SSIET), Dera Bassi, here today.

The participants presented papers on the upcoming emerging technologies like the WLL, Modern Power System, Modern trends in fiber optics, Data mining and warehousing, bioinformatics and virtual instrumentation.

Dr R.P. Bajpai, Director CSIO, inaugurated the contest and stressed upon the importance of emerging technologies and emphasised that the future belongs to the younger generation.

Mr A.K. Dimri, Chairman of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Chandigarh, gave away the prizes to the students for bagging first, second and third positions respectively.

Vikas Saini and Mohita Mangla of the SSIET, Dera Bassi, were adjudged first and the second while Vaibhav Malhotra of the SUS College of Engineering and Technology, Tangori, was declared third. They were also given a cash award of Rs 1,500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 respectively.

Earlier, Mr Avtar Singh, Chairman of the institute, highlighted the achievements of the institute.

Sadbhavana divas functions at PU from today
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5
The Panjab University Non Teaching Employees Federation today announced that the ‘sadbhavna divas’ functions, a series of regular functions with a religious fervour, will be organised tomorrow onwards.

Mr Dharam Paul Sharma, president of the federation, while addressing a press conference, said a blood donation camp tomorrow would mark the inauguration of the function. The camp had been dedicated in memory of Kalpana Chawla. Kalpana’s teacher Prof V.S. Malhotra would be present at the inauguration ceremony. The camp would be held between 9 30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m.

The camp would be followed by a series of religious functions, including a ‘havan’, ‘path of Guru Granth Sahib’ and others.

Mr Sharma pointed out that the blood donation camp, which is the ninth in a series, witnessed 250 donors last year. The aim was to popularise the practice among the masses. Also present on the occasion was Mr Charanjeet Singh, who has donated blood at least 140 times.

CDAC holds function on Sarthi
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, March 5
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Mohali, handed over 50 units of Sarthi- a low cost audio-visual aid for teaching Indian languages made by CDAC under a field study programme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development — to the state resource centres, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan here today. A special function was organisied at the CDAC Centre here, where persons from these resource centres were told about the operation of the computers and the sarthi programme.

Mr Deepak Kumar Syal, Additional Director of CDAC and chief investigator for the development of the Sarthi technology, talked about the background and development of the Sarthi teaching aid and its extension Sarthi II with the national literacy mission for imparting adult literacy. Mr Baljit Singh, chief investigator of this project, gave a detailed demonstration of Sarthi II and its features to the delegates from various states. Mr J.S. Bhatia, director in charge CDAC, appreciated the development of Sarthi II and stated that it would be a useful adult literacy tool in the country.

Seminar on stress management held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5
A seminar on stress management was organised at DAV College, Sector 10, under the aegis of the Department of Adult and Continuing Education, Panjab University, here today. In his keynote address, the department’s Director, Dr Ajaib Singh, said just as there were a number of causes of stress, there were many possibilities for its management. He added that all these possibilities required work towards change.

In his welcome address, the college Principal, Mr S. Marriya, said stress had become an essential part of everyone’s life. He was of the view that new paradigms were developing in the field of knowledge and teachers, as the knowledge managers, would be facing higher levels of occupational stress. Stating that stress results in the wear and tear of human body as it adjusts to the continually changing environment, Dr S L Sharma said stress had physical as well as emotional effects on people and could create positive as well as negative feelings.

COURTS

DISTRICT COURTS
Anbros director gets police remand
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, March 5
Two directors of Anbros Automobiles, Industrial Area —Ashwani Nanda and Ashima Nanda— today surrendered in a local court in a case of cheating registered against them. Following high court directions, they have surrendered in the court of the UT Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr C.L Mohal, in the morning. Later the court intimated the investigating officer concerned and the two were arrested by the UT police.

The police had sought the police custody of Ashwani claiming that his remand was needed to investigate the case. After hearing the plea, the accused Ashwani, was remanded in the police custody for one day. Meanwhile, Ashima was released on bail on furnishing a bond of Rs 20, 000. The counsel for the accused argued that the two had been falsely implicated in the case and showed relevant documents in the court.

As per the prosecution, the directors had sold an old Fiat Sienna, which had earlier met with an accident, to Mr Vir Bhan Goyal of AP Paper Mills, claiming it to be a new car. The case against the accused was registered in February 2001. They were earlier on a pre-arrest bail granted by the court.

Bail plea dismissed

An anticipatory bail plea moved by two persons—Raminder Singh and Rakesh— allegedly involved in an incident of desecrating of an idol and ransacking of other items at a mandir in Dhanas village, was today dismissed by a local court. The court also dismissed a regular plea moved by Varinder, who had been arrested by the police in the case.

The police had booked Raminder Singh and Rakesh Singh and Varinder for hurting religious sentiments, theft and destruction of temple.

According to the police Varinder had complained to the police that while he was coming from the lake, his vehicle caught fire near the cremation ground. When the police investigated the matter, his statement was found to be doubtful. The police was also investigating the matter of the idol of the Goddess being desecrated at the Kali Mata Mandir and the theft of the crown of the Goddess. Later, during investigations it was found that the three youths, Varinder, Rakesh Kumar and Raminder, were involved in the incident. A case under Sections 295, 380 and 436 of the IPC was registered against them.

CULTURE

Art exhibition with a difference
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5
The annual art exhibition of Government College of Art, Sector 10 is more than a mere ritual. Like every year, the idea behind the display of works created as classroom assignments by students may be the same, but the focus of attention in the works keeps shifting.

This shift in focus is currently being reflected in the art works on display at the gallery of College of Art. There is a marked difference in the themes as also in the technique of execution of works. Technology is now featuring in the works like never before. The interesting part of this huge show, comprising 675 works by 250 students of four streams, is its freshness and novelty. Every student from the respective stream (painting, applied art, graphics and sculpture) has put up about four works, each representing some element of instruction imparted in the college.

The works are strong and reflect the level of maturity which each student has acquired after attending the college for four years. The aim of the exhibition is to project a comprehensive view of the nature of training imparted to the students of the college. It also provides the students with an opportunity to see their work in comparison to those of others , know the public reaction and think of further improvement and refinement in their respective areas of specialisation.

Another idea behind presenting the annual art show is to disseminate practical and professional knowledge of handling and displaying works of art in as aesthetic a manner as possible.

Right at the entrance to the gallery, students of the applied art section have displayed their creations. With themes varying from Discovery channel to save time, the students have made a praiseworthy attempt to bring out the relationship between art and technology. Paintings follow in line, with the students putting up different kinds of work — composition, life study, print, portrait and so on.

The works created by the students of the print making section are especially interesting. Dabbling in the challenging medium of prints, the students have used different techniques like etching and litho to carve out a picture of reality.

Sculptures on the display are equally impressive, as they beckon the viewer with their beautiful forms and colours. The show was inaugurated by the Adviser to UT Administrator, Mr Virendra Singh, and will be on till March 10. It can be viewed in the college gallery between 11 am and 6 pm daily.

Govt awards tabla artiste
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5
At a young age of 18, Avirbhav Verma, son of late Pandit Pawan Kumar Verma, has won a number of awards in the field of tabla recitals. He was recently awarded a certificate of merit by the Government of Punjab through the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. The award also carries a cash prize of Rs one lakh. The award was presented to Avirbhav by the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, at a special function held at Kapurthala on February 27. Surkhab Shaukin, another young artist from the city, received the same award in the category of photography.

Avirbhav, a plus one student of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 27, has to his credit several prestigious concerts — from the recent ones at England to the one at the Governor House in Shimla. He gave his first performance on Jalandhar Doordarshan at the age of four. Later he used to accompany his father to various concerts when the latter was on the Indian Council for Cultural Relations Deputation to Indonesia.

He is presently preparing under the guidance of Pandit Laxman Singh Seen of Punjab gharana. Avirbhav has accompanied artistes of the calibre of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, Ustad Manu Kumar Seen and Shri Dinesh Mahavir.

Depicting death and rituals
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5
In Osho's regime, death is never denounced as a tragedy. Like birth, death is seen as part of a universal cycle and is celebrated as heartily as birth is.

The installation work created by Shridhar Iyer in the PU Fine Arts Museum seems to have taken inspiration from Osho, who always advocated the magnificence of life and death alike. Using his mastery as an artist, Shridhar has translated into art all those Hindu rituals that proceed death. The special part of Shridhar's offering is that he conceives the rituals with animal forms and not with human forms in mind.

The backdrop of the installation work is as beautiful as the work itself. The artist has used saffron coloured walls of the museum as inspirations for his work, thereby complimenting his forms with every object offered by the space of installation. For the past 15 days, Shridhar has been working on the concept which took its final form this evening, when the artist opened the work for public view.

It gives you the feeling of being at a ghat. With water all around the installation, the space looks nothing less than the Benaras ghat where the artist is himself present to make the customary offerings after someone's death. So there are pind daans, donas and many more such objects like diyas floating on water.

"I have tried to depict the after- death rituals in my work here. The idea is to tell the world that aesthetics exists in every form and in every happening. In life, as in death, there is beauty. You only need an eye to identify it," says Shridhar, who also screened two video installations in the same space. The first titled Blue bull grey, is a dialogue between Nandi and Shiva. the artist swaps positions to take the place of both Shiva and Nandi and express emotions on behalf of both. The other titled on way, is a video film of the installation which the artist created in Ravindra Bhavan, Delhi sometime ago.

Harpreet Singh exhibits love for city
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5
Art Folio in Sector 9 yesterday opened to the works of Harpreet Singh, an artist in love with the city and with the way it has developed over the years. A blend of paintings, drawings, collages and computer graphics, the show reflects commercialisation in the positive sense.

Linking urbanisation and its forces with the concept of freedom and space, Harpreet Singh, a lecturer in Applied Arts at the Government College of Art, Sector 10, paints the opens spaces, filling them with beautiful motifs.

He combines traditional techniques with modern ones to carve out a fresh picture of the modern city. Basing his themes on the City beautiful, Harpreet Singh exhibits through colours the various forms of an urban society. So we have buildings, vehicles, skyscrapers and many other such features that add life to the urban world.

Beauty breathes in all the works which simply suggest a strong connection between the movement of time and the forces of change. Talk to the artist and he says the same thing.

“From canvas to computer, from Chandigarh to Delhi, from software to scrap, from pencil to mouse....life is a beautiful journey .”

Harpreet’s show is a colourful statement of this beautiful journey. The show will be on till March 8.

City artist’s paintings exhibited in Korea
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, March 5
Chandigarh artist Prem Singh is among the 24 Indian contemporary artists whose two paintings were exhibited at the Korea India Contemporary Art Exhibition 2003 at Kwang Hwa Moon Gallery, Seoul, Korea.

Besides Prem Singh, former Principal of Government College of Arts, Sector 10, other important artists who participated in the show are Dhiraj Choudhury, Dilip Das Gupta, Gopi Gajnani, Jai Jharotia, K.M. Adimoolam, T. Vaikuntam, Shobha Broota and Naranarayan Thigarajan.

The exhibition was organised by members of the Korean Indian Artist and Tagore Society of Korea.