Chandigarh, July 15
Yet again another batch of freshers has lit up the sprawling campus of Government College, Sector 11. The session has begun and the young hopefuls are having a nice time. Hostelers, too, eager to turn over a new leaf, have left comfortable confines of their homes to join their classes. But the spirit of the wannabes has been considerably dampened by the rains which have left their roofs leaking and hostels creaking .

The college provides accommodation to 400 boys. There are six blocks in the building and every block has just one toilet. The condition of toilets is pitiable and not exactly a good start for a good morning session. There is one maintenance booth also which exists only in name.

The Chief Warden of the hostel, Mr Avtar Singh, admitted that the hostels’ toilets had not been repaired for the past three years. “The session has already begun and the freshers have also joined. But the condition of toilets have remain unchanged. In monsoon , the problem compounds. We have written many times to the authorities concerned but still nothing has been done as yet.”

Principal of the college Pahlad Aggarwal was in equally helpless state: ‘The charge of the hostel maintenance is not in many hands .It comes under the Administration. I have already done the requisite . I have also written to the authorities concerned. Highlighting the fact that even his residence is not leak-free, he said: “It also needs repair. In monsoon, the roof of my room leaks badly”.

However, when contacted Mr V. K. Bhardwaj, Chief Engineer said, “The list of the requirement is prepared by the DPI, Colleges. First we make the priority the list then we carry out the repair work. We have not received any such requisition from the college. If there is any requirement, we will definitely do something about it.” 

Chandigarh, July 15
The Maulana Azad Education Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice Empowerment, New Delhi, will provide financial assistance to meritorious girl students belonging to minorities under the scheme of the Maulana Azad National Scholarship, an official press release stated here today.

Under the scheme, one-time scholarship of Rs 10,000 will be given to girl students belonging to minorities — Muslims, Christians, Buddhist, Sikhs and Parsis — who have passed Class X with 55 per cent and more marks, have confirmed admission in Class XI and whose parents’ annual income is less than Rs 1.00 lakh per annum.

Students need to send applications to the office of the local Director of Social Welfare.

Mohali, July 16
A camp was organised here yesterday by the local unit of the Breakthrough Science Society to commemorate the 100th year of the propounding of the Special Theory of Relativity by Albert Einstein.

The camp, “Learning science through experiments”, was held at Government Senior Secondary School, Phase 3B1, under the guidance of Prof Uma Ramachandran of the NIPER, Mohali. Students of the 10 plus one and plus two classes (science stream) of the school and the ITI, Mohali, took part in it.

Dr Soumitro Banerjee, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and recipient of the Dr Bhatnagar Award, advised the students to understand science through proper logic rather than learning by rote so as to develop the scientific bent of mind and scientific outlook on life.

Students and the science faculty also had a beneficial interaction with Dr Banerjee.

The secretary of the society, Mr Binod Mahanto, said various science experiments were performed by research scholars at the camp. Some of the tricks used by magicians were also explained scientifically.

LEISURE

Bringing smiles to tired faces
Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

The charm is for real. The smile is warm, dimpled and appealing. No starry airs for this pretty lass, for, as one of Sony Television’s famous and successful mascots, ‘Kareena Kareena’, Kulraj Randhawa makes for an engaging picture.

In the city for the inauguration of Hakoba’s first showroom in Chandigarh and in Sector 22 D, this lovely lady has her feet on the ground despite the curiosity and adulation surrounding her. “This is me. I cannot put be artificial or put on a distant impression, because I would not be able to sustain it for long,” she smiles.

A self professed tomboy, as a child she found playing with dolls and makeup kits a complete bore. Now, of course, is another story. “I am now used to looking my best, so now it is not such a hassle but earlier, it took getting used to.”

And what was it about her show that appealed to her so much? “I could identify with the protagonist of the show, a bubbly girl who gets into all sorts of situations and adventures. What appeals to me about ‘Kareena Kareena’ is that I get to experiment with a different characters.”

She is grabbing a quick bite and talking in-between as she has a flight to catch. Despite the rush, she takes the time out to savour the butter chicken. “I can eat everything. I am not fussy at all except that the food should not be spicy,” the famous dimpled smile flashes again.

For Kulraj, the 14-hour workday, lack of sleep and makeup galore is well worth the effort for, “Being able to reach out to so many people through a medium like television is a humbling experience.”

So from here what next? “There are a couple of films on offer but I am still looking at the scripts. After ‘Kareena Kareena’ one needs a big enough vehicle to move onto.”

Will the serial go the Jassi Jaisee Koi Nahin way, hackneyed and meandering? “Jassi is a wonderful serial and every serial has a life of its own. All I can say right now is that at least for the next two months I am definitely on the serial. After that let us see how it works out. One needs to move on.” TNS

An adolescent child prodigy, Devinder, hailing from a sleepy Bhattiwal village in Sangrur district could have hardly dreamt that he will be cheered by the elite theatre aficionados of America, Canada Singapore and many other countries for his 34 memorable theatrical performances as an actor, playwright and the director.

The theatre beckoned Devinder work as a child artist with IPTA director B.L. Mastana and he made his presence felt with his directorial excellence of ‘Dharti hethla bauladh’ and ‘Ateet de prachhaven’ way back in 1964. “I was overwhelmed with the cooperation and acting spells by the invincible Om Puri, Mahender Sandhu and Mahesh Kaushal at the central state library at Patiala,” recalls Devinder Daman. Also working with the most celebrated maestro, Harpal Tiwana, the first NSD graduate from Punjab, in two plays fascinated me for his technical virtuosity which invariably augmented the production level.

In 1967, Daman found a life partner in Jaswant Kaur of Punjab, repertoire, who one played his sister in ‘Ratta Sallu’ as the fellow artistes coined a phrase ‘Marriage of intellect and dramatic force’. Coupling many success stories under ‘Norah Richard Rangmanch’ they produced over twentyfive plays while ‘Chhipan ton pehlan’, Zafarnama and Rani Jindan (directed by theatre stalwart Mohan Maharishi) won International acclaim on being staged on major venues in many countries during 1983.

“Why many Punjabi plays are not being staged abroad and even in other states of the region these days is a matter of concern and introspection as compared to the folk music concerts” rues Daman, recalling his staging of ‘Sooraj da qatl’ in Asia’s biggest ‘Sanmukhnanda hall’ in Mumbai.

Theatre, the most powerful communicative medium of direct interaction with the people , neither forms a part of our tradition nor it has the patronage of the government while the private sector encourages the ‘theatre for classes and not for the masses’ observed Daman.

He holds that ‘ Theatre’ is the replica of life and there is always a chance of vital improvement unlike the films. He had written scripts for many films but only two Punjabi films “Josh Jawani Da” (1981) and “Pardesan” (1981 in Canada) were released. Despite awards and accomplishments, he is still not complacent and literary creations continue to flow from his ubiquitous pen. His quest for learning even after crossing 60 years he took a six months crash course at the American Film Institute. He is the first Asian member of the American Screen Writers Association (ASA). The distinction has enabled him to win contract for scripting ‘Banda’ a Hollywood film for Multi Links Global, Los Angeles.

Owing his successful career to his life and stage partner Jaswant Daman, an accomplished theatre artist he hails the aesthetic prowess of America based son Riputaman and daughter Arvind in serials. He admires the contribution of young directors Kewal Dhaliwal and Sahib Singh to the contemporary Punjabi theatre.

Daman will be presented the Punjab Sangeet Natak Award -2005 for excellence in theatre, with a citation, memento and cash award of Rs 31,000 at an official function.

It was vintage Gurdas Mann right through with the audience tapping its feet to his singing despite the fact that the function was marked by police lathi charges with fans attempting to enter the venue in Mohali on the night of Saturday.

The well-known artiste began with a devotional song, “Mori rakhyiyo laj gurudev”, and held the audience spellbound with a slew of items. His presentations in his distinctive style included “Chhala”, “Be kadaran nal pyar na kariyo”, “Manke, manke”. “Ki khatya main teri Heer ban ke” and one from the movie “Des Hoya Pardes” about life in the hostel. The film had recently won a national award.

The function, “Mann Punjab da”, went on late into the night with Gurdas continuing with inexhaustible energy with more presentations like “Main kamly yar di kamli” (on audience demand) and “Dil da mamla hai”, with which he said he had begun his musical career.

Fans complained of “police raj” at the venue at the Dasehra Ground in Phase VIII. The police resorted to lathi charges on persons trying to enter the venue, even though many of them were holding VIP and VVIP passes. They said many youngsters were crossing the barricades to enter while persons with genuine passes were kept out.

A photo journalist of a local English daily had his camera snatched by the police and was also allegedly beaten up when he was trying to click the lathi charges.

Mr Arvind Puri, who came along with his family from Mullanpur Garibdas for the show, complained that his wife sustained injuries in the chaos and lathi charges outside the venue. He said he then decided to return home without attending the show.

Magic spread its enchanting wings all over the city today as the sixth book in the Harry Potter series was released worldwide today. Book stores are thriving on the excitement the book has generated and the children’s smiles are wider than a wand.

“Just seeing the look of joy and sheer happiness on a child’s face on getting his hands on the book is reward enough,” says Ajay Arora of Capital Book Depot in Sector 17. He sums it up rather well for the bookstores have had a tremendous day today in terms of sales. “Awesome” is how Pooja Varma, Team Leader at Browser at Sector 8 C, describes the day. Both Capital Book Store and Browser have had sales in excess of 200 today till 5:00 pm and the evening rush had not even begun!

The English Book Store in Sector 17, which is offering a host of goodies to go along with the book, have notched up 150 first day sales and the night is young according to them! “Taka-tak” or “splendid” is how Sanjeev Chaudhary, co-owner describes the huge response they have got today.

Asia Book House in Sector 17 has sold 25 books and another 25 have been ordered for tomorrow from Delhi as the supplier here in the city has run out of copies!

Book Café in Sector 35, has been in the throes of magic shows for almost 50 to 60 young ones right through the day, to celebrate the arrival of the biggest celebrity of all — Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! TNS