The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

9 city students clear NTSE
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9
Nine city students have cleared this year’s National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training.

Considered as one of the prestigious examination to test the mental ability and aptitude, clearing the NTSE clears the job prospects of the candidates.

Interestingly, all nine students, who have cleared the NTSE from the Chandigarh quota of 10 seats, are high scorers in the class X examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Examination and the ICSE.

The students had reached the national-level after clearing the state-level test. An interview was also held after the national-level written examination. The candidates are entitled to certain amount of scholarship till the postgraduate level.

Ankita Chahravarty, who has scored 97 per cent marks in Class X exams and is pursuing medical stream, is one of the finalists. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, she said the mental ability section and scholastic were very challenging.

Clearing the examination has instilled more confidence in Ankita.

She along with three other girls from Sacred Heart school has cleared the test. The other girls are Kavisha Singh, Rashminder Kaur and Shefali Saroha.

Another finalist who had topped in this year’s ICSE Class X examination, Raghu Mahajan, said the test had a lot of importance attached to it. Clearing the test means improving in the area of mental ability and logical reasoning.

Manvi Singh, a student of DAV Public School, Sector 15, she it had instilled confidence in her.

Another finalist, Shimul Sachdeva, who has secured 95.8 per cent in Class X, said it tested her skill in mental and logical reasoning.

The test at the state level was conducted by the State Institute of Education, Sector 32. Around 1300 children had applied for the state-level test. Of these 10 got selected for the national-level and nine of these candidates have cleared the test.

The other students who have cleared the examination are Pranav Pandit and Rushil Goel.

The national-level test is being conducted since 1963.

Students honoured for excellence
Our Correspondent

Mohali, October 9
Pupils who had excelled in academics, sports and other activities at Khalsa Senior Secondary School were given awards by the Old Students Association of the institution here today.

The Old Students Association (1966-67 batch) of the school, which was set up in 1935 and is among the oldest in this area, presented the Joginder Singh Baidwan award for academics, the Gurdial Singh Mauli Baidwan award for sports and the Dasaundhi Ram Kumbra award for declamation to the outstanding pupils.

The co-convener of the association, Mr Gurdev Singh Bhullar, said the winners of the awards were Manjeet Kaur, Mandeep Kaur and Parvez (I, II, III, respectively, in Class IX); Rajdeep Singh and Raman Kumar (I and II, respectively in Class IX); Taranpreet Kaur, Rajinder Kaur and Kulwinder Singh (I, II, III, respectively in Class VIII); Mohan Lal and Narinder Kaur (I and II, respectively in Class VII); Vinod Kumari, Rupinder Kaur (I and II, respectively in Class VI).

Also honoured were Naseema Begum, who had stood first in Punjab in the 800 metres race, and Tejinder Singh, who bagged the first position in the rifle shooting event of the 5th Battalion, NCC.

Mr Gurdev Singh Bhullar added that Mr Raghbir Singh Bhullar, an old student and sarpanch of Dharamgarh village donated Rs 10,000 and Mr Major Singh Baidwan, another old student presently in California, USA, also donated Rs 11,000 for the school.

The association also decided to meet the educational expenses of Naseema Begum, a poor girl and winner of 800 metres race in Punjab school games, who had discontinued studies due to lack of financial resources, Mr Bhullar added.

The chief guest at the function was Mr Raghbir Singh Bhullar, sarpanch of Dharamgarh village.

Halwarvi remembered
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9
The first Halwarvi Memorial Lecture was organised at the ICSSR complex of Panjab University, here today, by the India-China Friendship Association, Punjab, to commemorate the first anniversary of a poet, a journalist and former editor of Punjabi Tribune, Harbhajan Singh Halwarvi.

Dr J.S. Puar, a former Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, was the chief guest. The function started with a ‘Shabad’ recitation by students of Paragaon Senior Secondary School and floral tributes to Halwarvi by his wife, son and others. Mr Manjit Singh Gill, a former Superintending Engineer, recited some of the poems written by Halwarvi.

Dr Manmohan Singh, a former chairman of the Department of Correspondence Studies, Panjab University, and a senior member of the India-China Friends Association, presented a paper on ‘Panchsheel and the scriptures of the world’. He enumerated that though the topic might sound strange to some but it was corrected to mention that Panchsheel has been derived from the Buddhist scriptures which aims at the righteous path and right living (earning).

He felt that though Panchsheel was a political agreement between India and China, yet it had its philosophical, moral and ethical roots in the scriptures of the world. Dr J.S. Puar, in his presidential remarks, called Halwarvi as a friend of friends.

Ms Pritpal Kaur, wife of Halwarvi, recited one of his poems and recalled his life and works. Rich tributes were paid to Halwarvi by president of the ICFA Jeewan Tewari, Prof G.S. Bhatia ‘Arif’ and Sham Singh, News Editor, Punjabi Tribune, Mr Amar Kant, Dr Sharanjeet, Dr Amarjeet Singh and several others. Professor G.S. Gill conducted the proceedings.

CULTURE

In the service of art
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9
Nothing inspires like life. No wonder its myriad moods, its vibrant faces and its enigmatic treasures are serving as major sources of inspiration for the 12 veteran artists who have gathered at Kalagram to translate images into colours. Here on an invitation from ‘We’, a group of local women who have decided to enrich society with whatever little they can, the artists have been engaged in creation since yesterday.

Sponsored by CITCO and North Zone Cultural Centre, the painters’ camp is an effort on the part of We to keep the creative energies flowing. In attendance at the camp which will conclude tomorrow are Usha Biswas, Prem Singh, S.K. Sahni, Jiten Hazarika, Raj K. Jain, E.K. Raj, Pulak Biswas, R.S. Gill, Baldev Rattan and Aditya Prakash. On the move at the venue are various creative styles from “artistic expressions based on raagmalas” by R.S. Gill to formation of faces from abstract mazes as mastered by Usha Biswas.

A celebrated landscape artist, Gill has created two extremely inspiring pieces influenced by “Raag Malhar” and “Ahir Bhairav”. A trained vocalist, he sets himself apart from the rest in his fraternity by creating art out of musical spaces. He has always dabbled in ragas and has perfectly rendered them on his canvas. The style is unique and the execution ingenious. Here at Kalagram too, Gill has enriched the creative space with his musical touch. He has also worked on one landscape.

E.K. Raj sits silently, filling the white of his canvas with splashes of peach and green. With nature on his mind and beauty on his fingers, he lends life to his images that seem to come alive in the wonderful space of Kalagram. Raj does not say a word. His strokes do the talking.

Next to Raj three painters are busy another splashes to colour to the surroundings. Jiten Hazarika straddles the world of figures and abstraction at the same time, as he culls from his mind forms for artistic expression. Women dominate his canvas, which looks rich despite the presence of languor. Prem Singh is vibrant as always, his themes still evolving in a pattern that stresses freedom and life. Hargopal Jhamb, a quintessential sculptor, is also painting images for We. His figures seem like a straight lift from one of his sculptural indulgences.

Another corner of the camp is occupied by Usha Biswas, whose execution amazes and inspires at the same time. She creates a maze of orange and then allows the confusion on the canvas to get sorted out by lending structures to strokes. Faces have always fascinated her. No wonder they emerge out of nowhere on her canvas, which looks like one subtle representation of life itself. As the painter says, “Abstraction makes a painting. I view the entire humanity as a structure. So it is easy for me to create life out of seemingly dead patterns. Abstraction offers unlimited possibilities of creation. It brilliantly engenders images.”

While Usha Biswas celebrates the beauty of humankind through faces, her better half Pulak Biswas focuses on textures. His image of a door is hauntingly beautiful, as is his friend S.K. Sahni’s preoccupation with straight lines.

The camp will conclude tomorrow.

Western Film Review
Cross-cultural romantic comedy
Rajiv Kaplish

CHANDIGARH: The arty-intellectual crowd may frown upon ‘‘Bride and Prejudice’’ (Kiran, Fun Republic). Fans wanting to see violence on screen might not like to touch it with a barge pole. But for those hooked on fun and frolic, director Gurinder Chadha’s cinematic version of Jane Austen’s timeless novel, ‘‘Pride and Prejudice’’, might just be the kind of musical extravaganza they have been waiting for — there are disco numbers; ‘dhol-dhamaka’; bhangra; and garba.

‘‘It’s not quite a Bollywood film, it’s not quite a British film and it’s not quite a Hollywood film,’’ said Nitin Ganatra, one of the actors, in a recent interview. How true! As the director transforms Austen’s Bennet family into the Bakshis of Amritsar with Aishwarya Rai playing the headstrong Lalita Bakshi opposite Martin Henderson, essaying the role of Californian-billionaire Will Darcy with whom she has a love-hate relationship, the movie flits from robust Amritsar locales to exotic Goa beaches to opulent London settings to luxurious Los Angeles situations.

While the director can’t be singled out for her acute reverence to the spirit of the classic, she deserves appreciation for trying to stay faithful to some aspects of the book even while giving it a Hindi-film twist.

Some viewers may rue the cold vibes between Aishwarya and Henderson for most part of the film which result from their inability to understand each other’s cultures and traditions.

Aishwarya looks vivacious and plays her role with aplomb. A song, ‘‘No life without wife’’, featuring Aishwarya and her sisters, played by Namrata Shirodhkar, Meghna Kothari and Piya Rai, is the highlight of the film.

Another high point is Nadira Babbar’s portrayal of the ambitious and dominating mother of Aishwarya and her three sisters who is keen on marrying off her daughters to nice Indian boys. At times, all other characters are dwarfed by her funny antics.

If a handsome man can look wooden, then Martin Henderson looks wooden. Anupam Kher as the father of the four girls passes muster and is not the perfect foil to Nadira Babbar.

A surprise is hilarious Nitin Ganatra who as a Los Angeles-based accountant pursues Aishwarya. Wickham (Daniel Gilles), playing the wicked half-brother of Darcy, does not have enough to do except saunter in and out of frames.

With a mixed Indian, British and the US cast, ‘‘Bride ...’’ can aptly be called a cross-cultural romantic comedy.