Students participate in seminar on aviation
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 25
Only five of the 40 schools sent their students for a science seminar organised for the Ludhiana East constituency held at Ramgarhia Boys Senior Secondary School, Millerganj.

Each school was represented by two students, making a total of 10 participants. The participating schools included Government High Schools of Ramgarh and Salem Tabri, Government Senior Secondary School, Jandiali, Smt Satyawati Oswal Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School and the host Ramgarhia Boys Senior Secondary School.

The topic of the seminar was “Powered flight — a century of innovations and future of aviation”. The students were told to speak on the topic for six minutes in English, Punjabi or Hindi. Of the total 100 marks to be allocated, 40 marks were for content, 25 for methodology of speaking, 10 for written test that was held on the topic prior to the seminar, 10 for the question-answer round held after the speech and 15 for the visuals and illustrations presented by the student during the seminar.

Jaskaran Singh of the host school stood first. The participant of Government High School, Ramgarh, was declared second and Meera Devi of Government High School, Salem Tabri, was declared third. The panel of judges comprised three physics lecturers, including Mr Balwinder Singh of Government Senior Secondary School, Dakha, Ms Swaranjit Kaur of Government Senior Secondary School, Dehlon, and Ms Meena Jindal of Government Senior Secondary School, Cinema Road.

Mr Ranjit Singh, Headmaster, Government High School, Salem Tabri, was the chief guest.

He said the next tehsil-level contest would be organised at Singh Sabha School, Model Town, on July 28 in which students from government, aided and private schools falling in the Ludhiana West constituency would participate. He said the top two students in today’s contest would participate in the district-level to be held on July 30.

Court remand for Gurjinder
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 25
Mr Jasbeer Singh, Judicial Magistrate (First Class), today declined the request of the police to extend the police remand of Gurjinder Singh, accused of abducting the daughter of S.S. Bhatti, SP (Investigation) with Lokpal, Punjab. The judge remanded the accused in judicial custody until August 5.

The accused was produced in the court this noon. The prosecution sought further police remand on the grounds that it had mentioned yesterday in the remand papers. The defence counsel opposed it and submitted that the complainant was a senior police official and “harassing” his client.

After hearing the contentions, the judge said there was no need to extend the police remand and remanded the accused in judicial custody.

The statement of the allegedly abducted girl, Rupinder Kaur, had been recorded by the Illaqa Magistrate yesterday. The parents of the accused had already been remanded in judicial custody.

CULTURE

Break free of tradition, poetess exhorts women
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, July 25
“I yearned for 18 years to see my anthology of gazals in print. I had a passion for writing and started writing when I was 13. I faced stiff opposition from my parents and in-laws but I persisted with my writing. Finally my efforts bore fruit,” says Sukhwinder Amrit, Punjabi gazal writer.

She centres the theme around the position of women in a male-dominated society and love. The position of economically independent literate women has improved, yet even they feel that in spite of empowerment, they have not been able to throw away the yoke of male dominance. The position of illiterate women and housewives has not changed. It seems time has halted for them as their position is the same as the woman of a century ago”, she says.

Talking of love, she says, “Women have a reservoir of love in their hearts. They want to shower their love on men but the irony is that they do not find men worthy of their love. Their love and intensity is not understood by men.”

She says sometimes talented girls with writing potential are born in families that have negative attitude towards their talent. Parents lack wisdom and don’t allow them to pursue their dreams. “My advice to women is to continue fighting the odds with a single-minded objective to succeed and success will be theirs”, she says.

“Women writers are like salt in flour. New writers do not find ready acceptance in the male-dominated world of writers. Where gender bias persist. Even in my case, I had to prove my worth with each new publication of my book. Now with the editing of “Kesar de Chitte”, a collection of gazals penned by prominent gazal writers of Punjab, like Surjit Patar and Ajaib Chitarkar, I have gained a certain position in the Punjabi literary world,” she says.

Her collections, “Suraj di Dehleez,” and “Chiragan di Daar” have found acceptance with the writers. “After a struggle of two decades, my family has finally accepted my passion for writing. Now it takes pride in my achievements”, she says, adding that talent coupled with hard work and determination is always rewarding.

These lines penned by her sums the essence of her poetry:

“Tur rahi haan mein, chhuri di dhar te, Pher vi au khush nahin raftar te, Mein fateh pawni hai aaj majhdar te, Ek chumban de mere patwar te.”

Punjabi novelist honoured
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 25
Dr Surinder Singh Narula, a novelist and an educationist, was recently awarded a fellowship by the Punjabi Sahit Sabha, New Delhi, for his contribution to the development of Punjabi literature.

Mr Darshan Singh, Mr Gulzar Singh Sandhu and Mr Charnjit Singh Chann who had come from Delhi, presented a fellowship of Rs 2,500 for three years, a memento and a shawl to him on behalf of the Punjabi Sahit Sabha at a function organised by the Punjabi Sahitya Akademi yesterday.

Dr Surjit Patar, president of the Akademi, said Dr Narula had contributed to the development and growth of the novel after Nanak Singh. Punjabi literature would remain indebted to him, he said.

Mr Jasdev Singh Jassowal, Chairman of Prof Mohan Singh Foundation, said Dr Narula was not only a great novelist, but also a good human being. Dr Narula was selected for IAS but his love for literature made him an educationist and a writer.

Prof Niranjan Tasneem said Punjabi literature had become richer with his contribution.

Prof Rajinder Bhattal, general secretary of Punjabi Sahitya Akademi said it was an honour to be with Dr Narula as one could learn a lot from him.

Dr Narula thanked everyone and said, “It has been a difficult task to write but I have done the job to the best of my ability. Whatever I could do for Punjabi, I have done sincerely.

Although I taught English, I am in love with Punjabi. I would advise new writers to write boldly and time would then honour them”.