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| Friday,
September 12, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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MCM students up in arms on syllabi issue Chandigarh, September 11 Though the day began on a usual note, a handful of students gathered at the college ground around 10 am and began to protest. Gradually, more students joined in and classes and the college corridor wore a deserted look. The students were then asked to leave the campus by the college authorities. Once outside, they resumed their protest against the college authorities, even as the police kept vigil. While they demanded a reduced syllabi for the September examination, they also alleged that a gatekeeper had manhandled them and virtually pushed them out of the college campus. They also alleged that the college authorities had declined to reserve hostel rooms for next year if they went on with the agitation. Later, the Principal, Ms Usha Gupta, while addressing the students, said: “If you raise slogans against the very college that is imparting education to you, you don’t belong here.” Angry with the protest, she told the students that their demands had already been accepted and that the gatekeeper would apologise for any misbehavior on his part. “We have asked the teachers to spell out the important topics. During the paper of 40 marks, the students have to attempt only two questions. Once they have the topics, the syllabi would be automatically reduced,” she said. She added that the reservation for hostel rooms took place only after the final examination and the students were misinformed on the issue. Asking the students to disperse if they were unwilling to attend classes, she went back to the campus. The students decided to boycott the election and warned fellow student against coming to the campus to vote. With studies disrupted, most of the hostelers left for their homes by evening, choosing to go back rather than stay on the campus. |
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Flowers bloom in St Joseph Chandigarh, September 11 The programme started at about 9.30 am. Clad as flowers in cheerful dresses, the little ones walked up and down the stage uttering meaningful verses simultaneously. As the spectators stood up to applaud, marigolds, jasmines, roses, lotuses and sunflowers smiled. This was not all. The students dressed up like professionals and helpers “depicted the importance each one played in our lives”. They included postmen, doctors, policemen, soldiers, even nurses. According to Director, Kindergarten, Simar Grewal, “Play is the best form of recreation. It also makes learning better. Moreover, it is a form of self-expression. If a child is taught in a playful manner, it has a positive effect. In fact, portrayal leaves an indelible impact on the young minds, something even teaching at times fails to do.” |
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NCC microlites to participate in air-race Chandigarh, September 11 The new route has five stop-overs, including two night halts, between the starting point, Chandigarh, and the termination point, Nagpur, with the distances between stop-overs being reduced. The earlier route had four stop-overs. The change in route has also resulted in the total distance to be traversed being reduced from 860 nautical miles (about 1530 km) to 805 nautical miles. “We had requested the organisers for modifications in the route as the leg distances were too large for the microlites’ fuel capacity,” Gp Capt Ajay Dudeja said. The Commanding Officer of No.4 NCC Air Squadron at Ludhiana, Sqdn Ldr P.P. Singh has been selected to represent the NCC in the air race’s northern sector. The flying circuit in this sector is Chandigarh-Hindan-Agra-Khajuraho-Gwalior-Bhopal-Nagpur route. The NCC air squadron at Chandigarh has been earmarked as the back-up squadron. |
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158 Scouts, Guides take part in camp Chandigarh, September 11 As many as 158 Scouts and Guides of 10 KVs of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh participated in the camp. The highlight of the camp was a trek to Mansa Devi. “Test Sessions” pertaining to proficiency badges were conducted as per schedule. The Venue Director, Ms Narinder Mohini, Principal KV I, motivated the participants to work hard to uplift the society. To mark the end of the camp, the Assistant Commissioner, KVS, Chandigarh Region, Mr D.K. Saini, and Col Tarlochan Singh lit the camp fire with a flame torch. A lively cultural programme was put up by the participants. The flag lowering ceremony and the scouts handshake marked the end of the camp. Health camp held A health orientation programme was held at Sanjay Public School, SAS Nagar, here today. Realising the true value of the maxim, "Health is wealth”, a dental check-up camp conducted by dental surgeons made the students aware of the growing dental problems. |
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SCHOOL WORLD
FOR
many Europeans, India evoked a picture of Maharajas, snake charmers, and the rope-trick”. This is how Romila Thapar begins her most widely known book on Indian history. Only the snake-charmer remains, she points out, generally ill-fed, who risks his life to catch a snake, de-fang it, and make it dance, all in the hope of earning an occasional coin to feed him, his family and the snake. As for the other two, “The Maharajas are now fast disappearing and the rope-trick was at best a hallucination”, she says with great certainty. In November 2001, though, BBC News reported having seen the Indian rope trick in the town of Udupi in Karnataka. The basics of the Indian rope trick are simple to describe. The magician throws a rope up in the air. The rope does not fall down. Instead, it seems to stand up, sometimes even enabling the magician to climb on it. This simple trick, seemingly defying the laws of nature, intrigued magicians from all over the world. Many tried to perform the Indian rope-trick but with no success. Unable to replicate the deeds of Indian magicians of yore contemporary magicians have begun to insist that the Indian rope-trick really never existed, though they have still not given up. For social historians of India the matter of the Indian rope trick goes beyond accomplishments in prestidigitations. How did the idea of the rope trick come about in the first place? Why did so many people report about it? Were they all making up the story, if yes, then why? Why were the documented sightings about the Indian rope trick mostly from individuals with no further collateral evidence to corroborate the
matter? Milbourne Christopher, who researched extensively on the history of magic, has traced the history of the Indian rope trick down to the travelogue of Ibn
Batuta, the Moroccan traveller from the 14th century. His peregrinations had brought Ibn Batuta to India during the reign of the Sultan Muhammad bin
Tughlaq. Muhammad Tughlaq was willing to try out Ibn Batuta as one of his officers. When Batuta expressed his desire to continue with his journeys and visit China the Sultan appointed him the ambassador to that fabled land. China was a most wondrous country even in those days. Ibn Batuta writes that in the court of the governor of the Hangchau province he saw the court magician in action. The magician threw a ball that was attached to a rope up in the air. As the ball was lost to sight high up the rope stretched taut. The magician had his assistant climb up the rope. As he went higher the boy, to Ibn Batuta’s surprise, vanished. The magician called him back, but there was no answer from above. After a while, showing great annoyance the magician climbed up after the boy and vanished. A little while later various body parts, severed and bloody, began to fall from the sky. Still later the magician came down with his bloody clothes, brought together the body pieces in a heap and gave them a kick. This brought back the boy to life. End of
show. Milbourne reports of the claim of the rope trick being performed in the court of the Emperor Jehangir as well sometime between 1605 and 1627. But most of the better-known accounts come from English travellers who write of Indian street magicians performing the rope trick. It seems that most Englishmen built their reports upon the basic description provided by Ibn
Batuta. Once the claim of having seen the rope trick was suitably established then anyone who wanted to tell a tall story about experiences in India could claim having witnessed it. The most recent sighting of the rope trick comes from none other then the BBC. It reports on the Indian magicians who had assembled for the International Conference of Magic at Udupi in Karnataka [23-25 November 2001]. Without much ado the BBC report says: “These magicians are adept at performing the most famous Indian magic, the ‘rope trick’, in which a boy climbs up on a rope suspended in thin air”. None of the other reports about that Conference mentions the rope trick. But think about someone who is entirely depending on the BBC, after all that organisation does have a reputation for trustworthiness. Perhaps someone did perform the rope trick at Udupi during that
conference? M.Rajivlochan, Department of History, Panjab University, Chandigarh. |
HIGH
COURT Chandigarh, September 11 Taking up a petition, a Division Bench, comprising Mr Justice Binod Kumar Roy and Mr Justice Hemant Gupta, observed that Punjab’s Senior Deputy Advocate-General Charu Tuli, Haryana’s Deputy Advocate-General Randhir Singh and counsel appearing for Chandigarh Administration Lisa Gill had stated that the three governments were coordinating among themselves regarding the issue. The Judges added that they were satisfied with the report regarding the issues. As such, further monitoring was not required. Contempt Taking up a petition filed by four Assistant Sub Inspectors (ASIs) alleging wilful disobedience of the court orders, Mr Justice N.K. Sud of the High Court on Thursday asked Punjab’s Director-General of Police A.A. Siddiqui to show cause why proceedings under the Contempt of Court Act should not be initiated against him. Issuing the directions, the Judge also fixed September 23 as the next date of hearing in the case.  |
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District Courts Chandigarh, September 11 The three students, including Harjit Singh, stated that they had been falsely implicated in the case. Giving details, they alleged that the FIR against them was registered to pressurise them as they had got a case registered against the rival group. The police had registered a case against the students under Sections 323, 147, 148 and 506 of the IPC after a group clash. They said they had surrendered before the police in the morning at the police station and deserved concession of bail. Application
dismissed Stating that the Beant Singh assassination trial, which is being conducted at the Model Burail jail, was being delayed due to lengthy cross-examination by the counsel for the accused, the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Balbir Singh, today dismissed an application moved by one of the accused, Gurmeet Singh, in the case. Gurmeet Singh had filed an application stating that the court should hold seven to 10 hearings in the case each month as per the High Court directions. The judge said the delay was being caused due to lengthy cross-examination by the counsel for accused. Moreover, five to six counsels appeared one behalf of the accused. The judge also issued bailable warrants against the former and the current Superintendent of Central Jail, Jammu, to produce relevant documents in the case. Warrants issued A local court today issued warrants against one of the co-accused in the Ludhiana youth murder case, Simarjit Singh, a constable with Punjab police. The warrants were issued against the co-accused for failing to appear in the court. It was alleged that Gurmeet Singh, alias Pinki (Black Cat), along with others had allegedly killed Avtar Singh in Ludhiana on January 24, 2001. The trial was earlier being conducted in Ludhiana but due to security reasons the case was shifted to the Chandigarh District Courts. |
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‘Save
Sukhna’ petition dismissed Chandigarh,
September 11 Earlier during the day, counsel for the state
of Haryana told the Court that the forest area was being conserved.
The Court had earlier directed the Chandigarh Administration and other respondents to submit a detailed report and produce relevant record “connected with the raising of the height”. The Bench, headed by Chief Justice Mr Justice B.K. Roy, had added: “The department concerned is also required to submit a specific report with regard to the structural strength of the dam and how many cusecs of water it can hold. We will also like to know from the Administration about the discharge of the water made in terms of cusecs from the Sukhna Lake during the past five years. The estimated life span of the dam, indicated at the time of its construction, should also be indicated.” During the proceedings, Haryana’s Senior Deputy Advocate-General has claimed that while disposing a representation made by petitioner Dr B.Singh, the Financial Commissioner and the Principal Secretary to the Haryana Government observed that the catchment area of the lake had been identified and left out of urbanisation, which is a part of the heritage, besides being ecologically dear to the state of Haryana and every effort has been made to retain its original form. The petitioner, on the other hand, had asserted that the catchment area of the lake was in fact a forest area. An attempt was being made by the Haryana Government to have a lake adjacent to the Sukhna Lake by retaining rainwater or water from the rivulets ending into the lake. “If that is allowed, then the Sukhna Lake will apparently dry up....”, he added. The case will now come up for further hearing on August 28. In a petition, Naya Gaon resident Dr B. Singh had earlier produced development plan of Haryana. Describing it as “death warrant”, he had stated that the plan would stop the inflow of rainwater into the Sukhna Lake, rendering it a dumping ground for waste material. Dr B. Singh had asserted that Haryana wanted its own lake within the state territory. He had alleged that the Chandigarh Administration, under the influence of the Haryana Government, was maintaining silence and was not taking any measure to stop such plan. In another petition, city resident Pritpal Singh Sodhi had asserted that the lake would be destroyed if the level was raised. He had further asserted that the pressure would increase by 40 per cent on the adjoining buildings if the level was raised by two feet. |
Need felt for cultural calendar as Chandigarh, September 11 Lined up as the events are one after the other and sometimes one over the other, art lovers are already ruing that they may not be able to soak in the festivity which a host of institutions have arranged for them. With some presentations overlapping each other on September 15 and 16, the need for a cultural calendar for UT is being increasingly felt. About a year ago, when Mr Vivek Atray was handling the charge of Director, Public Relations, UT, he had initiated the move by compiling a list of major cultural institutions in and around the city. The idea was to draw up a comprehensive list and ensure that events are well distributed through the year. While the idea awaits implementation, art lovers advocate desperate need for a cultural calendar which, they feel, will help maximise people's satisfaction. To begin with, curtains will rise tomorrow with the show being organised to mark the inauguration of Pracheen Kala Kendra at Sector 71, SAS Nagar. Planned in the festival format for five days, the show will have Yamini Reddy, daughter of Raja-Radha Reddy perform Kuchipudi. The following days will bring to town stalwarts like Shivana Narayan, Saroja Vaidyanathan and Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Even while this festival will be underway at SAS Nagar, the much-awaited National Theatre Festival of the Haryana Cultural Affairs Department will open at Tagore Theatre on September 15. To run through six days, this festival will end with “Seema Paar”, the celebrated theatre production of Karnataka's theatre personality,
Prasanna. Just as this festival ends on September 20, the National School of Drama repertoire show will roll at Tagore Theatre from September 21. After this wraps up on September 24, seasoned artiste Naseeruddin Shah will be in Chandigarh with his wife Ratna Pathak and daughter Habiba, to present the "Ismat Appa ka kissa" on September 25. veteran Vikram Kapadia will bring his "Black with Equals on September 27. Viewers may find it difficult to make choices, simply because each presentation would be worth attending. Art lovers, however, feel the cultural calendar could do some good, insofar as it could guide organisations to schedule their events not hastily, but comfortably. Mr Atul Khanna of the Durga Das Foundation, which has the credit of bringing classic productions like “Love Letters” to town, welcomed the suggestion. "Such a calendar will come handy. It will not only prevent uncomfortable juxtaposition of events, but will also ensure that people go back satisfied." While UT Is grappling with the idea, Haryana Cultural Affairs Department already has its calendar. Mr Kamal Tewari from the Department said,"We are aware that Pracheen Kala Kendra's function is overlapping ours, but then our calendar was prepared before March this year. It's there for everybody to see and consult." Mr M.L. Koser of Pracheen Kala Kendra said a committee was needed to be constituted to look into this issue. Admitting that such a problem often surfaced in the city now, he said, "Such a committee should have members of all leading organisations. They should come out with their annual list of events so that a proper distribution is possible." |
Weaving the tale of hearts Chandigarh, September 11 The script did not come across as the one loaded with hyperboles to catch the intellectual eye, but as the one that sought to reach out to commoners, who understand plain ideas, served with plain means. Structured by the students of various city colleges, from SD College to Government College of Arts, Sector 10, today’s production was strongest towards the conclusion when all ideas of the script writer began falling in line, one after the other. Directed by Ravi Yuvaraj Panthi and Puneet Khanna, conceptualised by Tahira Kashyap and choreographed by Ayushmann Khurrana, “Socha Na Tha” was a tale of human hearts, divided by considerations of commerce. It took off from the pyre maker Raghunath Yadav (played by Ravi Panthi), whose only passion in life is to create a perfect pyre. Driven by profession, Raghunath never stops by to care for the better part of life where love and happiness reside. His life takes a vibrant turn when Saroj (played by Tahira Kashyap) walks into it with a promise of care. What follows is a tale of love turned sour by deceit and abandonment. During the course of relationship, Ragnunath, a character that personifies dedication in all forms, falls in love with Saroj, who is given to baser instincts. She leads him on the path of love, then guides him towards sin. He kills her “non-existent stepson” because he cannot tolerate her subjection at his hands. The plot unfolds when the protagonist is caught in the police net for having murdered Saroj’s husband (who he never knew was her husband). Having written off his entire earning in Saroj’s name, the protagonist loses his all in the game of love. The woman deserts him for material bliss. She, however, does not realise what she has given him in the end. Set to shades of comedy and melancholy, the play explores all facets of a man’s character. It underlines the unusual power of love that can direct a man of goodness on the path of eternal sin. As the plot culminates, with the judge pronouncing a death sentence for Raghunath, he smiles in satisfaction, realising and recounting that one thing which prevented him from executing masterpieces in pyres. The play assumes a philosophical dimension, with the protagonist indulging in self dialogue,”Now I know why I could not make the best pyres. Because I could never sensitize with that lifeless form placed thereon. I was so engaged in the mechanics of work that I was led away from the reality of existence. I could not feel the pain of loss. Now that my beloved has left me languishing in the lurch, I shed tears, which I never shed before. I have known the mystery behind masterly creations. And now that I have known this, allow me the fortune of executing one last pyre.” Curtains fall with the tones of death playing in the background. The most interesting part of the play was that it it talked of love and loss in a rural setting. Among other players were Chandradeep Kalra, Ravish, Prashant, Rochak, Namrata, Vikas, Sukriti, Pradeep, Bhavna, Hargun, Hardeep Sethi, Gaurav and Amrita. |
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NEW
RELEASES TIRUMALAI
Pictures’ “Market” will be released today at KC, Chandigarh. The film has been produced by Rama Adhikari and Latif Khan and directed by Jayprakash. It is reportedly inspired by the true story of Ameena, a Hyderabadi girl. This is Manisha Koirala’s much- awaited film. The cast also includes new find Anuradha, Srivallabh Vyas, Aryan Vaid, Suman Ranganathan, Shweta Menon, Govind Namdeo, Makrand Deshpande and Sayaji Shinde. Based on a story by Arshad Jamal, the film has screenplay by Meeraq Mirza, dialogues by Masud Mirza and cinematography by Thomas A. Xavier. Arun Bhairav has penned the lyrics. Singer Altaf Raja turns music director with this film.
*** Romantic thriller “Parwaana”, a romantic thriller starring Ajay Devgan and Amisha Patel, will be released today at Batra, Chandigarh, and Suraj, Panchkula. The film has been produced and directed by Deepak Bahri. Its catchline says: “Dare to play with life!!!” It is a story of an orphan who lives happily in a ‘basti’. But circumstances put him behind bars. He escapes from jail to prove his innocence. The story has many twists and turns. The action sequences have been directed by Veeru Devgan, the lyrics are by Sameer and Afsar and the music is by the Sanjeev-Darshan duo. —
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