The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Art of breaking barriers
Indo-Pak artistes bring together East and West Punjabs
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

A couple of years ago, the owners of a film theatre in Islamabad found themselves in the eye of a storm after secretly screening Bollywood blockbuster kabhi khushi kabhi gham, even as the audience, mostly youngsters, began dancing to its irresistible tunes, including Indian patriotic songs — Vande Mataram and Sare Jahan Se Achcha Hindustan Hamara.

Infamous divide

The infamous Radcliff Line that divided “Panj-Aab” (meaning five rivers) was named after Cyril Radcliff, who had never visited India and did not know anyone in the sub-continent before his arrival at the time of Partition! However, despite the geographical division, the line, which drew borders between India and newly-created Pakistan, could not divide Punjabis. Neither could it divide their folktales and folklores.

There were certain disputes regarding the Radcliff Line, the two major ones being Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and Gurdaspur District. In the initial proposal of Radcliff, Gurdaspur District was in Pakistan. It was changed later at the request of Lord Mountbatten. The reasons mentioned were that Kashmir would be inaccessible to India if the kingdom wanted to integrate with the Indian Union and also to provide buffer to the Sikh Holy City of Amritsar which otherwise would be surrounded by Muslim territory.

Madiha Gohar (third from right) of the Ajoka Theatre gives introduction of the artistes after their performance at Amritsar. — Photo by Rajiv Sharma

The theatre, Melody, in central Islamabad had “violated” the ban on screening Indian movies and held a private show midnight for an exclusively invited audience.

However, the hostilities of the past 58 years and “undesired” bans seem to have become a thing of the past with Wagah joint check post now humming with lots of activities helping in the revival of people-to-people contact. Now Pakistanis and Indians, especially artistes, can be seen dancing to drum beats, taking national flags of both countries in their hands at the international border.

Interestingly, the local Manch Rang Manch (MRM) of Shiromani Natakkar, Kewal Dhaliwal (Amritsar) and Madiha Gauhar of the Ajoka Theatre (Lahore) have evolved a unique venture to bring artistes of both countries on one stage under the banner of “APPAN” (All Punjab Performing Artistes Network). The translation of Punjabi word “APPAN” into English is “Ours”. The proposed activities include joint production of plays, holding theatre workshops, organising events like anniversaries of heroes and Sufi poets of both Punjabs, Basant, Baisakhi in Lahore and Amritsar simultaneously.

The founding groups of the network — Ajoka (Lahore) and MRM (Amritsar) — undertook the first joint production, “Peero Preman”, a play directed by Kewal Dhaliwal of Amritsar and produced by Ajoka (Lahore), last year. The unique venture helped in strengthening the cultural ties between the two Punjabs. Peero was the first poetess of Punjabi who has lately become a symbol of composite Punjabi culture.

Another manifestation of APPAN’s work is the publication of Shahid Nadeem’s play Bullah (Pakistani writer) in Gurmukhi by Arvinder Kaur Dhaliwal. Another milestone in the cultural exchange programme was the organising of “Panj Paani” Festival at Lahore in March this year. Many collaborative ventures and exchanges between artistes of East and West Punjab have taken place since then.

Luna, a Punjabi play, a production of Amritsar’s MRM, was given standing ovation by the audience in Lahore. The Pakistani artistes had to cancel their own play so that they could see the performance of Luna the next day also.

Renowned artistes from Lahore and Amritsar attended a seminar on “Contribution of literature and theatre for creating permanent thaw in the region” organised by the MRM at Amritsar.

The MRM and the Ajoka Theatre are now contemplating to organise a joint “Manto theatre festival at Lahore and Amritsar in November. The legendary Urdu writer had lived for a long time in Amritsar before migrating to Lahore at the time of Partition. Both theatrical groups are also planning to revive the pristine glory of “Preet Nagar”, which was the hub of cultural activities before Partition.

The ongoing blustering bonhomie on both sides of the Radcliff Line is attributed to the relentless efforts of the writers and artistes from both countries who have played a significant role to bring closer both Punjabs (East and West), coupled with the efforts of saner politicians. The artistes have convinced the people of both countries that the past cannot be allowed to impinge on the future and also that the line that Cyril Radcliff drew across India cannot be allowed to become a barrier. The artistes have pledged that the following years cannot be wasted merely because the last 58 years were spent hating each other.

Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab Naatshala, BBK DAV College for Women and Springdale School have also emerged as the hubs of live performing arts on this side of the border. These institutes, in collaboration with the Ajoka Theatre Group of Pakistan and the Manch Rang Manch of India, staged the famous Greek play “Oedipus” written by Sophocles, one of the eminent playwrights of ancient Greece. The play was the outcome of the workshop organised by three theatre stalwarts of India and Pakistan, including Mr Partho Banerjee from Kolkota and Mr Kewal Dhaliwal. The 60-odd talented artistes from India and Pakistan presented the play. The play began with traditional masque performance. It is based on famous Greek tragedy drawing on the Freudian philosophy of Oedipus Complex.

Theatre workshops have created a new genre of theatre culture among young artistes and they symbolise the cultural affinity among the artistes of India and Pakistan. Towards the end of the last year, the joint workshops of Indo-Pak theatre brought Amritsar an array of new and old plays from across the country and a range of discussions on the theory and practice of theatre.

The Indo-Pak theatre workshops brought several special experiences: the return of early Prithvi actresses Zohra Sehgal and Uzra Butt in the Indo-Pakistan collaboration “Ek Thi Nani”. The play was, incidentally, written by India-born Shahid Nadeem who migrated to Pakistan and later became a playwright. He founded the famed theatre group “Ajoka”.

Nadeem was, apparently, inspired by the life of two sisters who have come to be recognised as a “bond across the great divide”.

While Sehgal has acted in films, television and on stage, her sister who left India in 1960 has not acted in films. However, the latter is a permanent member of the Ajoka Theatre group of Pakistan. Its production “Ek Thi Nani” in 1999 reunited sisters Zohra Sehgal and Uzra Bhatt, separated by the India-Pakistan border. The play may have been uneven, but Zohra Sehgal’s riveting performances in “Ek Thi Naani” made the event an unforgettable experience.

Zohra Sehgal, at 92, is truly the grand old dame of theatre. The play tells the story of two sisters — one who emigrated to Pakistan, the other who stayed on in India to dedicate her life to her career in acting and dance. The story loosely follows the real-life thread of the two sisters’ lives; and in doing so it follows, in some ways, the destinies of the two nations.

Born in 1912 at Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Zohra Sehgal has lived an entire century on stage and screen. When Sehgal and Butt first performed “Ek Thi Nani” together in 1993, in Lahore, it was the first time that they were appearing on stage together after four decades.

	Healing touch of Operation Sadhbhavana Rashmi Talwar “Operation Sadhbhavana” is the army’s unique humanitarian effort to wean away youth from the temptation or forcible joining of terrorist ranks and to mitigate their sufferings in trouble-torn Kashmir. Not only has it served as a window for those residing in sensitive areas near the Indo-Pak border, but also it has helped Kashmiri youths to connect to the rest of India. Recently, 30 youngsters from various areas of Jammu and Kashmir visited the city and were welcomed by Maj General S.C. Sharma, VSM, GOC, Panther Division here. He stressed on the importance of the contribution of youth towards national integrity and importance of discipline and hard work. “There are no shortcuts to success and I have faith in the capability of youth to rise above the personal concerns to become capable citizens of the country,” he stressed. As many as 425 students and others have visited the city in recent years under this operation. The operation was necessitated after the tabling of report on the “Kargil misadventure”. It was evolved after careful thought to form a link with local populace in sensitive and disturbed areas of Kashmir. According to reports, Rashtriya Rifles has been pivotal in carrying out various aspects of the operation, including providing necessary help in community service, health, education and development sectors, in addition to providing ground for extracurricular activities. The effects of the operation have been seen in the changes in the mindset of families from many villages in far-flung areas that dot the Indo-Pak Kashmir border. Besides, the army has also taken major steps for the rehabilitation of surrendered militants under this operation. The students, till now, have been selected from terrorist-affected areas of Rajouri, Poonch, Doda, Anantnag and other villages in the state that has been marred by terrorism for over a decade now. The operation has been evolved to help in changing the mindset of people living in the “shadow of the gun” that literally snatched the “normal” childhood and life from them. Scared and manipulated, they often had been forced to give shelter to fleeing terrorists, revealed the teenagers to The Tribune during their visit to the city. According to the army spokesperson, the selection process of these students is carried out with the help of village panchayats and principals of local schools who recommend these students. The Panther Division here coordinates to chalk out activities for these students. Their activities include visiting places of historical interest like Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, Durgiana Mandir, Govind Garh Fort. This time, the students whose lodging, conveyance and food was taken care of by the Panther Division, were also taken around the walled city, markets, business houses and factories. The students were also shown the educational facilities in army schools and their long and short-term benefits. They were also encouraged to play friendly matches. The students were shown how the army has been training people in agro-animal activities like vegetable cultivation, seed production, processing of surplus vegetables, poultry rearing and production, dairy management. The youngsters were also told that the other activities of the army included working on community projects, education, free healthcare to insurgency victims, assistance in running primary health centres, working on potable water supply schemes in remote areas, providing artificial limbs, adoption of villages, organising friendly matches between villagers and army and women empowerment.
	Glam queen Lisa Ray has literary ambitions Neeraj Bagga Famous Bollywood actress and model Lisa Ray visited the city as a part of the signature campaign of Rado watch of which she is the brand ambassador. Daughter of a Bengali father and Polish mother, her first appearance was as a model for a leading Indian textile industry at the age of 16. She set the small screen ablaze with her appearance in Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s ‘”Aafreen Afreen”. “I can be made to look differently keeping in view the demand of character. I can look young and innocent or walk on ramp and act in an advertisement,” she said. She has acted in two Hindi movies — Kasoor and Bollywood-Hollywood. Speaking about her experience in Hindi films, she said it was a completely different world. She said it needed to improve in quality and production values to make a mark in international cinema. Her predilection is towards cinema. She does not like ramp modelling, as she feels she is not very tall. Standing five feet and five inches, Ray entered Bollywood after featuring in some music videos. She was even seen in Punjabi pop star Daler Mehendi’s music video. She took a shot at anchoring also. She anchored the screen awards and the Derby Fashion Nite. She even wrote for some Indian publications. Her ambition is to be a novelist. During this visit, she was accompanied by Mr Christian Leiggner, regional sales manager, Rado Watches.
	GND varsity all set to lift MAKA Trophy Neeraj Bagga Guru Nanak Dev University, known as the sports arm of Punjab, is all set to lift the prestigious Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy for the year 2003-04 for the record 19th time. With this triumph, the 36-year-old university would make a record of sorts. MAKA Trophy, named after the first Education Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, was instituted in 1956-57 and is a running trophy awarded to the university displaying all-round best performance in sports. During the session 2003-04, the varsity remained champion in cross-country (men), netball (men and women), hockey (women) and gymnastics (men and women). It secured second place in cricket (women), cross-country (women), volleyball (women) and rhythmic gymnastics (women), while bagging the third position in handball (women), basketball (men), Yoga (women) and rowing (women). Besides, the university clinched the title in weight lifting (men) and power lifting (men) in the All-India Inter University Games. It was a runner-up in weight lifting (women) and it got the third position in power lifting (women). Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, said the award of MAKA Trophy to the varsity was announced by the secretary general of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) during the standing committee meeting that concluded recently at Dalhousie.
	Local writer nominated for Punjabi Lekhak Award Neeraj Bagga Dr K.S. Kaang has done the city proud, as he has been nominated for this year’s Shiromani Punjabi Lekhak Award by the Punjab Government. Dr Kaang had been disappointed with the state government for the omission of his name from the list of awardees last year. He thinks that he was denied the honour for long, as he writes fearlessly — unmindful of those in power. The 70-year-old writer has enriched the literature with 77 books penned by him. His 77th book was “Punjabi novel te novelkar”. Considered to be a fearless critic and prolific prose writer in the Punjabi literary circles, he founded two genres of prose in Punjabi, including lyrical essays and character-sketches. His character-sketches reflect his keen understanding of the persons he writes about. He is credited to have written the first lyrical essays in Punjabi. His famous books are Sahitya chintan, Badlan de rang, Pathar leekan and Sahitya meemansa. Dr Kaang’s literary journey began at a comparatively young age. He began his literary career at 16 by writing stories. Gradually, he developed a taste for criticism. Just after a short span of four years, he was a recognised critic, thanks to his unbiased criticism. After completing his masters in Punjabi he took the job of a lecturer. He taught in various government colleges and universities of northern India and researched on medieval Punjabi literature. His writings portray the contemporary history of the holy city comprehensively and give readers a peep into various facets of the city’s life. “Yadan de panchhi” (autobiographical essay) is an exquisite example of this. For his literary pursuit, Dr Kaang visited Germany, Holland, Denmark, Luxemburg, Thailand, Singapore and Pakistan. This extensive travel enriched his writings and provided him with a rich experience that is visible in his writings. The septuagenarian writer also writes in English. His three books — Principal Teja Singh, Bawa Balwant and Sujan Singh — are already available in market. In his literary career, he compiled Punjabi-English dictionary and his 15 entries found a place in the Encyclopaedia of the Indian Literature published by the Sahitya Akademi. Various state and national literary organisations honoured him for his contribution to literature. He retired in 1994. His post-retirement period proved to be the prolific patch of his literary journey, in spite of the fact that he had to undergo bypass surgery. Now, he is busy writing biographies of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and late Col Narinder Pal, a noted Punjabi writer.
	UTI Mutual Fund launches new equity scheme Sanjay Bumbroo Tribune News Service UTI-Opportunities Fund, a new equity oriented scheme launched by the Unit Trust of India Mutual Fund, is open for subscription to investors from July 20. This is an open-ended equity oriented scheme and the face value of each unit is Rs 10. The scheme is open to resident individuals, institutions, non-resident Indians and foreign institutional investors. Further, the UTI Mutual Fund will be merging five such schemes i.e. UTI-PEF Unit Scheme, UTI-Unit Scheme 1992 (UTI-US 92), UTI-Master Equity Plan 1998 (UTI-MEP 98), UTI-Master Equity Plan 1999 (UTI-MEP 99) and UTI-Grandmaster Unit Scheme (UTI-GUS) into the UTI-Opportunities Fund. Unit holders of these schemes have an option to either exit at net asset value (NAV) without any load from June 16, 2005, to July 15, 2005 (both days inclusive) or automatically become unit holders of the new scheme without any load i.e. at the face value of Rs 10 per unit effective from July 15. Mr D.S. Murthy, executive director, UTI Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd (UTI-AMC), said the main focus of the UTI-Opportunities Fund was to capitalise on opportunities arising in market by responding to the changing Indian economy by moving its investments among different sectors as prevailing trends change. As markets evolve and grow, new opportunities for growth keep emerging. The fund would endeavour to capture these opportunities to generate wealth for its investors. Mr Murthy said the fund would predominantly invest in four or five sectors that were expected to outperform the broader market in short to medium term. The scheme would invest a minimum of 90 per cent and a maximum of 100 per cent in equity or equity related instruments and balance in debt or money market instruments. Mr Sridhar, Chief Investment Officer, UTI-AMC, said the aim of the scheme was to outperform plan vanilla equity funds, which were more diversified, and at the same time minimise the risk arising from pure sector funds while generating a reasonable return. Mr Rakesh Trikha, Chief Manager, UTI-AMC Amritsar, said the minimum initial investment was Rs 5,000 and the subsequent investment under a folio was Rs 1,000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter with no upper limit. The minimum balance of Rs 5,000 was not applicable for unit holders of UTI-PEF, UTI-US 92, UTI-MEP 98, UTI-MEP 99 and UTI GUS who opted to continue as members of the UTI-Opportunities.
	Chhattisgarh delegation visits city Ashok Sethi A three-member delegation from the department of higher and technical education sponsored by Government of Chhattisgarh visited the BBK DAV College for Women to study various facilities available and to prepare a project report for the evaluation of higher education in Chhattisgarh. The leader of the delegation, Dr A.K. Bansal, Principal, Government Postgraduate College in the tribal belt of Bastar, said that the government had taken a series of measures to upgrade the professional courses, computer application, information technology and career-oriented vocational courses. He said only 17 per cent girls from rural areas enrolled themselves in colleges. He said the present minister for Higher Education, Mr Ajay Chandrakar, had taken various initiatives to bring about qualitative changes both at the academic and the infrastructural level. He said the government had deputed a nine-member team to study various colleges in the country which had been granted A+ accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Committee of the UGC. He said that the team would study in detail the functioning of these colleges in north India. The other members of the team included Mr R.K. Naima, Principal Government Postgraduate College, Chhattisgarh, and Dr S.K. Rajput, senior professor, Government College of Sciences. Earlier, the host college’s Principal, Ms J. Kackria, and the faculty members interacted with the delegation and offered them details about the functioning of the college that ha been granted A+ accreditation by the UGC.
	Shiromani Kavi Award for Parminderjit Pawan Kumar “I don’t write just for the sake of writing. I write when something pricks my conscience,” says Parminderjit, a renowned Punjabi poet, whose name has been recommended for the Shiromani Kavi Award by the state government. Honours in Punjabi, Parmiderjit started his career in poetry and editing in 1973. Although he has written only four books — Collage kitab (1973), Likhtum Parminderjit (1981), Meri marfat (2000), Bachpan, ghar te main — he has created his own place in the field of Punjabi poetry. His fourth book “Bachpan, ghar te main” was released recently on July 18 during a Kavi Smagam at Guru Nanak Dev University here. His book “Meri Marfat” remained in the curriculum of MA (Punjabi) Part-II for three years. He has also been editing monthly Punjabi poetry magazine “Akhar” since its publication in 1975 when it was published twice a week. The publication of “Akhar” was stopped for some years due to financial constraints. However, its publication was restarted in 1989. Parminderjit also edited monthly Punjabi magazine “Lau” for 10 years (between 1979 and 1989), when the publication of “Akhar” remained suspended. Besides, he also edited and translated ‘Kalma ke rishte” (1970), comprising poetry of Indian and Pakistani poets, “Bedian te badban” (1973) which he edited in collaboration with Shaheryar, Kavita Punjab”, “Shairiy 92” (1992), “Dastak te sarnave”. He said his two books “Mere kujh hasil” and “Hiroshima de sanmukh” (in front of Hiroshima) would be published soon. He expressed his satisfaction over his long career as a poet and editor. He was recently honoured with Kalam Puraskar by the Komantri Lekhak Manch. He has been given a number of awards, including Safdar Hashmi Puraskar, Bawa Balwant Kavya Puraskar, Janwadi Kavita Puraskar, Maulvi Gulam Rasul Yaadgari Puraskar.
	Pingalwara retains Bhagat Puran Singh’s printing press Maneesha Mahajan To keep alive the spirit of Bhagat Puran Singh, Pingalwara has retained his printing press. Although the organisation has decided to upgrade the printing, it intends to keep this printing press operational as a tribute to the founder of the home for destitute. The press was established on May 30, 1955, by the name of “Puran Printing Press”. Significantly, this press had helped “Babaji” (Bhagat Puran Singh) to spread his views among masses. The printing unit comprises 19 printing presses known as Trader Press or Letter Press, two cutter machines, one stitching machine. It provides employment to 50 persons, as 29 workers are presently working at the press section and 20 work in the binding section. The books or leaflets published here include the biography of Bhagat Puran Singh, literature of Pingalwara, books on health, preservation of environment, population, poverty, social problems (dowry, deforestation, begging) and education. Conforming to the norm of environmental preservation even the paper used in the leaflets is obtained from recycling the old paper. This published material is distributed among donors, people at railway station, bus stand, gurdwaras to make them aware of the reality and it acts as a source of inspiration for the future generation. Every year, about 20,000 books are printed and some old books in demand are reprinted. Nowadays, books titled Daswant, Punjab nu le dobange nache, Kudrat di lut by D.S Bawa, Dr Jagdeep Pal Singh Bhatia and Ajmer Sidhu, respectively, are under printing.
	BBK DAV girl tops in varsity Neeraj Bagga Chitwan from the BBK DAV College for Women has topped in BA (Hons) English Part-I examination conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University. Sherry Padam from Sri Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College, Sarhali, has stood second in the university in BSc (IT) Part-I. Shilpa Kapoor from BBK DAV College has stood second in the university in BA (Hons) English Part-I. Another student Samaratha Shori has also bagged the second position in BA (Hons) English Part-III. Shikha Sharma has secured the second place in BA (Hons) English Part-II in the university. Sarabjeet Singh and Manmohan Kaur of DAV College, Hathi Gate, have stood second and fifth, respectively, in MA History Part-II in the university.