BA exams: Girls one-up on boys
Our Correspondent

Jhajjar, June 5
The girls have outshone boys in the BA first year results despite bearing all kinds of discriminations in Haryana. Girls surpassed their male counterparts in terms of performance in all the three streams of education, as out of total 68 merits, the fair sex walked away with 61 positions leaving seven positions at lower ranks for boys.

As per the results declared last week, all the top positions are occupied by the girls in three streams. In the arts stream, only one out of 27 merits went to boys.

Manish of the Government College, Meham, got 15th rank with Ritu with 299 marks each. While Seema of Kanya Mahavidyalaya topped the examination with 84.5 per cent marks; Reena of Government College for women, Narnaul, got second position. Seema, a student of Dujana College here achieved third place with 80 per cent marks.

CULTURE

ARTSCAPE
Weekend brings the promise of a treat for art lovers
Garima Pant

Sunday evening promises to be a great treat for lovers and followers of Indian Art. A screening of ‘Pan Asian Art’, the ninth film of a series of 26 films by Benoy K. Behl, titled ‘The Paintings of India’, will be screened at the India Habitat Centre. This film will be covering the mural paintings of Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Bali. The screening will begin at 7 pm.

A novel way to know Indian artists

Roli Books has come up with a collection of ‘Pocket Art Series’, which has a great collection of books on various artists and their works. One of the titles is ‘The Art of Jatin Das’. It is a very simple book, written in much simpler language that can be read and understood by all age groups. Usually, a subject like art doesn’t attract many. But this series is a very novel way to know about the various Indian artists, their lives in brief and the work they have done till now. It is not overloaded with textual matter and has a lot of pictures depicting the artists’ works. A must-read for all the ardent art lovers and the young, aspiring artists of years to come.

Magazine for the students

Every individual strives for the best and in this pursuit one can go to any lengths. In this immensely competitive world, every individual wants the best education opportunities to stay in the lead. It is not surprising that with every passing year the number of students going abroad to study has been increasing manifold. But without proper information and knowledge, students just reach universities abroad on the basis of other people’s recommendations. The result: many of them do not like the courses or the university that they had applied to. But with the launch of the magazine, ‘Ready To Go,’ things seem to be looking a bit better. The magazine, conceived by Arjun Jindal, is targeted at individuals in the age group of 16 to 35 who are keen on pursuing higher education abroad. This bi-monthly, priced at Rs 50, gives details about varying subjects from courses one can take up to coping and adjusting to college life on a new campus as well as addressing issues and queries relevant to Indian students. The inaugural issue was an instant hit and Arjun feels that “the magazine filled a gap, a void in the minds of the students.

They had wanted this kind of information and when they got it our efforts were duly well appreciated.” He further plans to make it the first point of reference for students aspiring to go abroad. ‘Ready To Go?’ magazine in its next six issues will cover an exclusive section on study in the UK. The magazine has a tie-up with the British Council to provide content that will directly address queries and provide information to students on education in the United Kingdom. 

MUSIC ZONE
Melody may well be her second name

She began her singing career at the tender age of seven years and has been singing since. Her idols and the prime inspirational source are Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. She is another talented example of elegance and melody. Veena Bhandari is a talented 26-year-old pop singer. She won numerous first prizes in art and culture in various inter-school and college competitions during her school and college days. After completing BA in Sanskrit from Delhi University, she took the degrees of Visharad from Allahabad University and Gandharva Sangeet Mahavidyalaya. She has also taken part in a programme in Holland with Kalyanji and Anandji. Till date, she has sung in approximately 12,000 programmes held in Singapore, Kazakhstan, Jakarta, Dubai and Kathmandu. She has also lent her voice as a playback singer in two regional films and also acted as an actress. She has to her credit 12 cassettes in Hindi, Garhwali, Kumaoni and Bhojpuri languages.

A singer par excellence

She belongs to the school of vocal music from Darbhanga Gharana and is a disciple of Pt Prem Kumar Mallick, who is a professor in Allahabad University. Dr Sushmita Deb is a singer of repute and had never thought of being a professional singer performing on stage both in India and abroad. She began learning Rabindra Sangeet from her father, who was an exponent in this. Her mother was a guitarist. Since her early childhood days, she was exposed to different genres of music and that added to her own zest for it. In her school days and thereafter she excelled in classical and ghazal singing, bagging numerous awards. She could gauge the vastness and depth of the Indian classical music and realised, she needed to take it up academically. She pursued a course in Indian classical music from Allahabad University and got a doctorate subsequently under the guidance of Dr Geeta Banerjee.

Saaya from T-Series

T-Series has come up with the music of Saaya. Directed by Anurag Basu, it has some melodious and soul-stirring music in the voices of Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, K.K. & Shreya Ghoshal. The music has been rendered by Anu Malik and lyrics by Sayeed Quadri, Anand Bakshi and Praveen Bhardwaj. Priced at Rs 50, the cassette is a mix of soft, sad and tuneful numbers and it promises to be a treat for music lovers.

Street play highlights the misuse 
of anti-dowry laws
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5
Drama and arts have successfully reflected the vices that plague the society. Taking cue from the recent incidents of brides protesting against grooms demanding dowry, a street play was staged in the Capital.

Crisp dialogues, biting songs and energetic movements, the play, ‘Judge Ka Faisla,’ enacted by about 20 youngsters, stressed on the need to ensure that anti-dowry laws are not used as means of exploitation by the girls’ side.

The historic Jantar Mantar was adorned with placards protesting against dowry, ‘Make Section 498A bailable’, read one such placard, while another said, ‘Rishton ko tootne se bachao, dahej kanoon mein badlav lao.’

The skit was enacted by artistes from the Society for Advancement of Knowledge and Human Awakening (SAKHA) and was aimed at discouraging the misuse of anti dowry laws by unscrupulous people.

The participants, while decrying the demand or acceptance of dowry, pointed out recent instances where Sections 498A, 406 and 304B of the Indian Penal Code were abused by the brides’ relatives to harass the entire family of the groom.

Directed by National School of Drama alumni, Rajeev Gaursingh, the play reminded the people of the May 21 Delhi High Court order recommending a review of the penal provision against cruelty by husband and in-laws, saying they were being misused to the extent that it was hitting at the very foundation of marriage and proving detrimental for the health of the society.

It was pointed out that when a complaint is lodged under Section 498A/406 IPC, it becomes an easy tool for harassment of the other party.

The recent rejection of dowry by the Gujjar community also found a mention in the performance.

An interesting scene from the play was a bride’s mother flaunting her clout with various women’s organisations.

She lodges a complaint against the groom and his relatives in anticipation that they will demand dowry despite the fact that the would-be in-laws had not asked for anything. “In case they actually ask for what we are portraying, non-bailable warrant awaits the whole family,” quips the mother.