The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

Enthralling experience for students
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 3
From the desolate heights of Ladakh to a cruise through the blue seas onboard a mighty warship, it was an enthralling experience for a group of 34 students who were taken on an excursion across the country by the Army.

The group, including girls and accompanied by five teachers, halted at Chandigarh today after arriving from Delhi on their way back home. The students, who are from Army Goodwill School, Karu, and Women Empowerment Centre, were shown around city’s sights, including the Rock Garden and Sukhna Lake.

The highlight of the visit was a meeting with the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in Delhi last month. Under Operation Sadbhavana, the Army is regularly conducting tours for students from various parts of Jammu and Kashmir in order to give them a glimpse of life and culture in other parts of the country.

In collaboration with the Navy, the Army had arranged a three-day stay for the group at Mumbai, where they had a chance to get first-hand experience of the “silent service’s” contribution to national security. They were taken on a guided tour of the Naval dockyard and taken onboard INS Viraat. A full day’s cruise was organised for them on INS Taragiri, where they were shown various naval manoeuvres as well as given a glimpse of the Bombay High oilfields. The children were also shown the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Dayal Bagh.

LIFESTYLE

‘Premarital counselling essential’
Swarleen kaur

Marriages are made in heaven but these days it is psychologists and marriage counsellors who are making them successful on earth. It seems matching horoscope and family background is not proving enough.

A great fuss is made to make the marriage ceremony glittering and glamorous at the cost of many aspects. The meeting of the two minds and souls is not without hitches. The mental and emotional quotients of the two partners might be different. Thus a lot of ground work is needed to smooth the things over. So what is more desirable is premarital counselling. This encourages heart to heart talk between couples and can make a relationship healthy.

According to Dr Vandana Narula, a psychologist, said every couple should seek the premarital counselling before tying the knot. This is necessary in the wake of the fact that most of the youth have poor knowledge and wrong notions about sex. Besides encouraging heart to heart talk, they can sort out many important issues.

Most of the girls influenced by the fairy-tale romance of Mills and Boons have a very rosy picture of their hubbies in their mind.

Their pent-up teenage fantasies might find no outlet or fulfilment. They need to be told that their husbands are not macho man or He-man who can create a magical excitement in their lives.

In fact, reality might be hard hitting.

Would-be brides should be made aware of the ground realities. Creating a loving space is not all sweetness and light. Coming to terms with reality, accepting all negative points require a lot of skill and understanding.

Certain habits of partner can become a permanent source of irritation. They also have to sacrifice many of their aims desires and wishes. Then there are routine ego hassles which if not handled with care can lead to serious problems.

She is also of the opinion since women are the homemakers, the onus of adjustments and fulfilling emotional needs fall on them. She should be prepared for it. And the husbands should also help her.

She says, “Newlyweds are not even aware of birth control methods. As a result many women become pregnant immediately after the marriage. Those who are not prepared for motherhood, go for abortions. Many a time this results in serious medical complications”.

Dr Kanwarjeet Kochhar, local gynaecologist, too holds similar views. She says they should be given counselling in family planning. If they prevent pregnancy for one year, it gives them more time to understand and adjust with each other. They should plan for the baby so that they are ready to devote their time and energy for him or her.

She also advocates that the girl should have German measles vaccine before marriage. If she contracts the disease in the first three months of pregnancy, there are many chances that she will have to abort the child as the child can have congenital abnormalities. The vaccine is easily available

Parents should also find out if there is any major haemophilic or thalassaemia case in the family where your son or daughter is being married in.

Then there are other practicalities to be taken care of. One such important thing is AIDS test.

Asking for AIDS test might be really very embarrassing but it is such a grim reality to which we cannot turn our back.

Says Punjab University student Nishika Sood, “The AIDS scenario makes me scary. I would want to see an AIDS clearance certificate of the guy whom I would marry. I have heard and read many cases of women inching towards death simply because their husbands fell prey to the disease. In fact, every sensible boy or girl should consider this seriously”, she said.

So it’s time for brides and bridegrooms to be to take some sound tips from experts on honeymoon. A bit of thinking can prevent the wedlock from turning into a deadlock.

Ratan Chand Ratnesh’s book of short stories discussed

Sahitya Sangam, Chandigarh, today organised a literary discussion on the new anthology of short stories by a budding Hindi writer, Ratan Chand Ratnesh. Titled “Ek Akeli”, the collection features 17 short stories capturing myriad aspects of human existence. Located in rural and urban settings, the stories tell the tale of common men and women struggling to maintain an identity in these complicated times.

Respected in the literary circles as a writer of the masses, Ratnesh has earlier published one more collection of short stories. Deliberating on his style as an emerging litterateur and a writer with a sense of purpose, eminent Hindi writers hailed him as an author one could relate with.

Among those who presented papers on the social, psychological, and philosophical dimensions of Ratnesh’s collection were Jagmohan Chopra, Dr Shashi Prabha, Subhash Rastogi, Arun Aditya and Sudershan Vashishtha, Director, Sahitya Akademi, Himachal Pradesh.

During literary criticism of Ratnesh’s work, almost all experts encouraged him for his flowing scripts which seemed to have been lifted from daily occurrences.

His characters are no ideals that can guide people around. They are simple men and women fighting their respective battles for survival in the world.

Founded by Phool Chand Manav, Sahitya Sangam regularly organises such literary discussions. Today’s discussion was rounded up by the secretary of the organisation, Ms Yogeshwar Kaur.

Indo-Pak poets celebrate togetherness

Far from the volatile border between India and Pakistan, a gathering of Seraiki poets from the two countries lived the joy of togetherness this evening. The thrill of homecoming spilled from their faces, gestures and verses alike as the Indo-Pak Multani/Seraiki poetic symposium gathered momentum at Sector 34 State Library.

It was jointly organised by The Federation of Migrant Groups from North-West India and the Chandigarh Arts Council.

By the time recitations ended, emotions were in control, with each one in the gathering yearning to share more of his/her childhood memories…. and while hearts bonded in the shadow of a shared cultural Heritage, one wondered what on earth had these two countries done to deserve such a painful severance. Mercifully guest poets from Bahawalpur (Pakistan) rushed to the aid of a mind struggling for answers as they voiced the same concerns in poetry.

Faintly connected to Punjabi, Seraiki is not as easy to comprehend as is said to be. Perhaps in referring to Seraiki as “easy”, its users are hinting at its incredible rhythmic strength which facilitates verbal communication whether or not one literally deciphers the recited verse.

Soaking in the poetry of Mohd Arif, Mohd Ishaq Panwar, Ikhlaq Ahmad from Pakistan; Prof Rana Pratap Ganauri, Prof Mohinder Partap Chand and Munnavar Sarhadi from India, one could easily relate to the sweetness of the language despite the difficulty of understanding its grammar.

The overall influence the poetry had on the listeners unconsciously impacted the mind of all those who knew nothing about the language.

Like Mohd Arif’s couplet, “Phull sare Arif sahmb rahkin; Lage jinna mull phull na vecheen…” made sense to all notwithstanding the barrier of language. From India’s side, Munnavar Sarhadi recited a wonderfully humorous piece in Seraiki. In his recitation he reflected the richness of the language.

The opening line of his piece was enough to send the listeners in splits. It was “Kake di bhabhi buha khol…”

Managed by Rana Partap Ganauri who recently compiled the first ever Multani-Hindi dictionary, the show featured poetic recitations by guests Abdul Majeed, Khalil Ahmed, Mohammad Sadiq, Ghulam Abbas, Asghar Hussain and Muhammad Javed. Representing India were Mohinder Partap Chand, Dr. Raj Kumar Malik and Govind Rakesh.

Dev Raj Dilbar was also present to charm the gathering with his inimitable style. His couplet, “Mai mithdi boli da adna shayar, Hey metha “Dilbar” Khitaab Sain”, won instant applause. He has recently written an anthology of Seraiki poems titled “Dil ni Maind-da”.

The most striking part of the mushaira was the difference in the ages of participating poets. While all guest poets were fairly young, those from India were old without exception. The difference served as a grim reminder to the little official patronage the language enjoys in India. Because there is no preservation policy, the language has no young takers. TNS