Cool Crescendo-2005 concludes
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 20
Sunsilk Fresh and Cool Crescendo-2005 organised by the GGN Institute of Management and Technology (GGNIMT) concluded here today. On the second and final days the festival witnessed a huge crowd and participants. The colourful ambience and fantabulous performances of the participants added to the glory of the extravaganza.

Mr Shiv Kumar, SP (Intelligence), was the chief guest for giddha and bhangra events. Events like giddha, collage making, bazaar-sell it, dumb charade, flower arrangement and mock press conference were held today.

Mr Parkash Pandey, Minister for Science and Technology, distributed prizes to the winners. The star attraction for the day were Mr Gurdev Singh Dhillon and Suman, popularly known as Santi.

Impressed with the continuous success of Crescendo, Mr Malkiat Singh Birmi, Parliamentary Secretary for Jails, granted Rs 1 lakh to the institute.

Mr Kuldeep Singh, Director, and Mr Gunwant Singh Dua, coordinator, expressed their gratitude towards the main sponsor and host of co-sponsors for making this grand event a big success.

Today’s results are as follows:

Dance to the Tune — LIMT, Phagwara 1, GNIMT, Ludhiana 2, DIMT, Ludhiana 3; Mehandi — GNIMT, Ludhiana 1, DIMT, Ludhiana 2, PCTE Baddowal 3. Choreography — GNIMT, Ludhiana 1, LIMY, Phagwara 2, Flower Arrangement — GNIMT, Ludhiana 1, LIM, Phagwara 2, DIMT, Doraha 3. Giddha — GNIMT, Ludhiana 1, KIMT, Ludhiana 2, IMS 3. Collage making — PAU, Ludhiana 1, PCTE, Baddowal 2, DIMT, Doraha 3. Sell IT — GNIMT, Ludhiana 1, DIMT, Doraha 2, PCTE, Baddowal 3. Debugging — PCTE, Baddowal 1, Desh Bhagat Institute of Management 2, KIMT, Ludhiana 3.

Punjabi Group Dance — GNIMT, Ludhiana 1, LIM, Phagwara 2.

Dumb Charade — PCTE, Baddowal 1, GNIMT, Ludhiana 2, LIM, Phagwara 3.

Tiny tots showcase talent on annual function
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 20
‘A Fairy Tale’ was the theme of the second annual function of Mother’s Touch Kindergarten. A mini fairy land was created on the school premises and one could see fairies and other characters from fairy tales every where.

Lieut-Col D.B. Sharma, Director, Sat Paul Mittal School, was the chief guest on the occasion. The little angels had presented a variety of dances, plays and recited poems making them appear dramatic.

The students danced on hit songs of yesteryears like “Mere piya gaye rangoon”, “Chod do anchal” which took the parents down the memory lane. The teachers gave a surprise farewell and graduation gift to their students by performing on a Punjabi song.

The parents appreciated the efforts of the Principal, Ms Gagandeep Chadha, and her staff for letting them enjoy in a fairy land.

Annual function: National Public High School, Vishwakarma Chowk, Jamalpur, celebrated its annual function here on Sunday. Mr Rajinder Singh Karwar, Principal, read out the annual report and said the school was getting 100 per cent results every year.

Ms Ravinder Kaur, councillor, and the chief guest of the function appreciated the efforts of the school in imparting good education to children.

A social worker, Mr Preet Sandhu, said the government should give special grant to the schools functioning in backward areas, so that the children from lower status of society could get good education in such schools. 

Gala time for kindergarten kids
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 20
A “graduation” ceremony was held at GNI School here yesterday to give away certificates to tiny tots of kindergarten. These children passed from the kindergarten to the primary section. The chief guest , Mr Tara Singh Tara, Deputy Director, Enforcement Excise and Taxation, Ludhiana, presided over the function. The function began with shabad gayan. The Principal Ms B. Gulati welcomed the chief guest who gave away “degrees” to the students.

Special prizes were given to Ishneet Kaur of class II for the best dancer and Jaskaran Singh of class I for the best orator.

A colourful variety programme was put up by students of the pre-primary wing.The Director, Ms P. Kahlon, Manager Mr Harbhajan Singh and General Secretary, Mr Gurbir Singh Sarna, were present on this occasion. Ms Sarika, Ms Mangat, Ms Sangeeta Dang, Ms Bandana were given best teachers awards

BCM function: Tint tots of kindergarten of BCM School, Shastri Nagar, who joined school as buds and have blossomed into flowers spreading their fragrances all round, a ‘Graduatoin Ceremony’ was organised in Swami Dayanand Hall here today.

Mrs Paramjit Kaur, Principal of the school, graced the occasion as chief guest. Ms P.K. Oberoi, in charge of kindergarten accorded a warm welcome to the parents of students who are passing out from the Kindergarten to Primary Section.

The function started with lamp lighting ceremony by parents. Students wearing caps and capes were full of excitement. Flowers were showered upon them and they seemed to enjoy every moment of the day. 

CULTURE

Sen enthrals with Vivekananda
Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 20
Historical plays have always been fascinating. Obviously for the action they are replete with. However, the spiritually historical plays make additional demands on the characters. For the obvious reason that the subject dealt with is not as mundane as to be simple and entertaining or action-oriented. And when the play is nothing but a musical monologue, the protagonist has to be exceptionally brilliant.

Shekhar Sen appeared to have done a lot of homework before presenting the spiritual and historical play ‘Vivekananda’ on Saturday night at the Guru Nanak Bhavan. The play was hosted by the Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam. Sen was not doing it for the first time. Earlier he had done Tulsi (about Tulsi Das) and Kabir. He had performed about 70 shows of the three plays across the globe, including the USA, the UK, Belgium and some other European countries.

Sen has been experimenting with the combination of music, dialogue and theatre all alone. He does multiple performances simultaneously while performing the role of different characters himself. He said, “It is a unique experiment which has worked well”. And it did work well on Saturday night. Sen tried to touch all important facets of Vivekananda’s life in just two hours. It was history of an epoch encapsulated in just two hours. He did it in class. Right from Vivekananda’s birth till his death, the important events were (re)enacted in a brilliant manner.

The two most important events in the life of Vivekananda, meeting with his spiritual guru Swami Ramkrishna Paramhansa and the address to the World Conference on Religions in Chicago in 1893 were done in an extraordinarily brilliant manner. Sen came right up to the expectations of the audience. Dressed like Vivekananda, his hold on dialogue was remarkable and outstanding. The audience was held in awe for some time.

Sen did try to take his audience back in time and space. That was the power of his dialogue punctuated with the musical notes. Sen is a trained musician. He tried his luck in Mumbai to become a music director before he took to theatre.

SPORTS

National wrestling championship from March 28
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, March 20
The 39th edition of the Senior National Championship and the bout for the title Hind Kesari will be held from March 28 to 31at the Bhai Nagahiya Singh Girls College ground, Alamgir.

According to Mr Harmail Singh, general secretary, Indian Style Wrestling Association of Punjab, a meeting of the association was held today at Akhara Alamgir which was chaired by its president, Mr Ram Krishan. The meeting reviewed the preparations being made for the mega event.

Mr Harmail Singh said during the four-day championship, around 350 wrestlers from across the country will be vying for top honours. The winner will be crowned with Hind Kesari title. The participants include wrestlers like as Rustam-e-Hind Harvinder Alamgir (Punjab), Rajiv Tomar of Uttar Pradesh, Sonu of Delhi, Kali Raman of Haryana, Parminder Dhoomchheri of Punjab, Unahat of Delhi and Rakesh Patel of Madhya Pradesh.

Besides, competitions in weight categories of 50, 55, 66, 74, 84, 96, and plus 96 kg will be conducted. The Punjab will field two teams namely A and B in this tournament.

The winners in different weight section will be given cash prizes, certificates and medals. Among others who attended the meeting include Mr Sikander Alamgir, Mr Mann Singh Garcha, Capt Harbans Singh Saiyan, Mr Harpal Singh Grewal, Mr Pinder Singh Alamgir, Sarpanch Malkit Singh, Mr Dalip Singh, Mr Sadhu Singh and Mr Avtar Singh.

Fans celebrate India’s win
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, March 20
Cricket fans here today celebrated India’s win over Pakistan in the second Test match played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. As soon as Harbhajan Singh, clean bowled Pakistan’s last batsman, Danish Kaneria, people who had been glued to their televison sets, came out on the streets and began dancing. At many places, people were seen distributing sweets and dancing to the tune of ‘dhols’.

Amit Arora, an avid follower of the game, said finally India which had missed to register a win the first Test at Mohali, did a marvellous job by recording a comfortable 195-run victory. When the visitors resumed their second innings today, everybody prayed for India to bowl out the Pakistan to enable India to a ‘deserved’ win, Amit added. He praised Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly for marshalling his bowling resources to the best which saw the hosts romp home victorious. Despite being under pressure and criticism in some quarters for his alleged indifferent captaincy over a period, Ganguly led his boys well to achieve the desired result, Amit said.

Another cricket fan, Inder Chawla expressed joys over India’s easy victory when he said that Mr dependable — Rahul Dravid made all the difference between the two teams. 

He does his college proud
Anil Datt