Mother’s Day celebrated in schools
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 7
City schools, celebrated today, Mother’s Day and children made speeches to express gratitude to mothers. At Manav Mangal High School, Sector 21, mothers were welcomed with flowers and cards prepared by children.

A seminar on ‘ Motherhood- A Challenge ; A Pleasure’ was also organised. The keynote speaker, Dr. N.K. Grover, author of “Only Better Parents have Best Child”, gave tips to mothers on preparing children for tomorrow.

Pragya of class I and Shivani of class II recited a poem on ‘Mothers’ conveying that mother was so beautiful for a child. Richa of class X expressed her feelings for mothers. She concluded by saying ‘God bless these special mothers, for all the tears and heart aches and for all the special work they do.’

Competitions for mothers with prizes were organised. Prize winners were Ms Pushpa, Ms Kamlesh, Ms Bimla, Ms Manju, Mrs Surinder Kohli, Ms Shashi Kiran and Ms Ibrana Jabin.

Principal, Sanjay Sardana, said,” In this age when the moral values were degenerating fast, we need to revive the old traditions of respect for parents and elders among students.”

At Delhi Public School, sector 40 the school choir presented two songs followed by a “Story of Mother’s day, a conversation between the Lord and an angel on why He made Mothers. Principal Ms Sunita Tanwar, wished well to all mothers on the occasion.

Tiny tots of pre-nursery, nursery and kindergarten classes of Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41, celebrated the day with their mothers at the school campus.

Mothers participated in contests like “Healthy tiffin”, “Most well dressed mother “ and participated in tambola and musical chairs. Executive Director of the school, Jasdeep Kalra, gave away prizes to the winners.

Mock CAT for MBA aspirants held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 7
The Chandigarh Chapter of Bulls Eye, conducted Mock CAT-2005 at the DAV College, Sector 10, here today. The test was conducted in four more cities of Patiala, Bathinda, Shimla and Amritsar. Over 2000 MBA aspirants appeared for the test.

Modelled on the latest CAT pattern the Mock CAT was given to create a feel of the real test. All participants will be sent score cards along with section-wise break-up, percentile ranking and tips for improvement. Ex-IIM alumni will offer individual counselling on preparation strategy after the test. 

Forum imposes Rs 25,000 penalty on UT Admn
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 7
The Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000 on the Chandigarh Administration for failure to provide basic amenities.

Justice K.K. Srivastava, president, and Maj-Gen S.P. Kapoor (Retd) and Ms Devinderjit Dhatt, both members, told the administration to provide basic amenities like approach road and parking place at the site allotted to complaints in Sector 40 within six months for harassment and mental agony resulting from deficiency in service. The commission also imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on the administration.

The allottees of a show room — Mr Amarbir Singh, Ms Amanpreet Singh and Ms Ravinder Kaur — had approached the Forum-II seeking directions to the administration to provide basic amenities. A compensation of Rs 5 lakh, besides a penal interest at the rate of 9 per cent on Rs 42 lakh deposited by the bidders, was also sought.

They had purchased the site at an auction for Rs 55.40 lakh. Even after the construction of the showroom, the administration had not allegedly provided basic amenities.

The forum ruled that the administration had not committed deficiency of service by not providing a road.

Healing wounds of Punjab’s dark times
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 7
When the mood is one of reconciliation on the note of forgiving, forgetting and making new beginnings all round, a young filmmaker has shown vision and concern by making a documentary on the post-militancy process of rehabilitation in Punjab. She is Reema Anand, a writer and filmmaker who has taken up humanistic causes in her writings and films. Her latest 17-minute documentary “Lest it be Repeated”, screened at the Sector 10 Government Museum auditorium, reaches out to an area that has been pushed aside in mainstream politics.

Content and not form is the concern of this Delhi-based sensitive woman who has called for amnesty to terrorists, police officials and deserted soldiers languishing in prisons and beginning a process of rehabilitating children of militants and police officials killed during the period.

The film came through as a rare humanistic appeal, which could well pave the way for a spirit of true reconciliation in a state that saw decades of violence.

In an interview, Reema said: “I made this film very cautiously with very limited resources shooting in three spells in 1993, 2000 and 2005. My aim is to begin a process of lasting peace and upholding of democratic values and healing old wounds.”

The camera flitting over the blue sky, gushing waters, mustard fields and bhangra dancers creates the mood of the land before going over the dark phase and the wounds that it has left.

Poignantly put before the camera is first person account of Rasnjit Singh Gill, son of Padma Bhushan awardee Khem Singh Gill, former Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University and one of the architects of the Green Revolution in Punjab, who is still a victim of the situation that had swayed the Sikh youth following the attack on the Golden Temple during Operation Bluestar. Reema says: “This is my first step in the direction and I would like to make a sequel to it to include other areas, including the rehabilitation of the victims of the November ’84 killing of the Sikhs.”

Humanistic causes have always been close to Reema’s heart and her book and film on Bhagat Puran Singh of Pingalwara called “His Sacred Burden”.

Reema says: “After that I made a 22-minute documentary on Bhagwant Singh Dilawari of Tapovan, who is doing great work in taking care of leprosy patients.”

Film Review
‘Maina Aisa hi Hoon’ seeps into heart slowly
Rama Sharma

A scene from ‘Main Aisa hi Hoon’

The boundaries defining a normal human being and a mentally undeveloped being tend to disappear in “Main Aisa hi Hoon”. With a soulful story at its rallying points, the flick could have attained the heights. But undermining it are overstated father-daughter gestures, relying heavily on tuneful songs .

With Ajay Devgun as the locus “Main Aisa hi Hoon” has its moment which seeps into the heart slowly. Sovereign and well-defined by the script, Ajay Devgun plays a below-normal man with a mind of seven-year-old, who is intelligent enough to give and receive tender care.

His grumpy looks alternating with childish laughter and claps are a treat for viewers. He enacts the note of a mentally underdeveloped man with elan which is becoming rare in film industry.

Esha Deol shows her improved nuances in a yuppie character rendered hazy by writer Bhavani Iyer. It is Sushmita Sen who delivers quite a stunning performance. Bringing out the best in her, Director Harry Baweja suitably gives her the character which makes us sit up and take notice.

Finding faults in child artiste Rucha is no easy task. The parent-child bonding sometime exhibited in overstated tones is supposed to be absorbed readily by Indians with middle-class values.

The second –half comprising the courtroom sequences with Anupam Kher seeking the custody of child, has a fuzz which refuses to go away till the end. The court diatribe fails to knock on while we yearn to listen some power- packed dialogues. — TNS