The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

Army chief to join Sanawar school celebrations
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30
The Lawrence School, Sanawar is celebrating its 158th anniversary of its foundation from October to 2 to 4. The Chief of the Army Staff, Gen J.J. Singh, along with his wife Mrs Anupama Singh, will be the chief guest on the occasion.

The Founder’s Day celebrations is singularly the most important event of the school, when all the skills that students learn are on display and there is an opportunity for interaction between the old Sanawarians, parents, students and the staff, a statement issued here said.

The celebrations will begin with the school paying rich tributes to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Patriotic songs and hymns are sung by the entire school and the school pledges to follow the path shown by him.

The annual athletic meet on October 3 will be followed by a blood donation camp. Besides a number of exhibitions to highlight the creativity of the students, a school concert, Tattoo, light and sound as well as hockey and basketball matches between the Old Sanawarians and the present Sanawarians are being organised.

October 4 will get started with the special assembly, followed by the NCC parade and annual prize giving function along with the chief guest’s speech.

Group Capt B.K. Sood to head TETTRA School
Tribune News Service

Gp Capt B.K

Chandigarh, September 30
Gp Capt B.K. Sood has been appointed Station Commander of the MiG 27/29 TETTRA School at the Air Force High Grounds here. Prior to this appointment, he was Chief Engineering Officer of a forward airbase. He takes over from Gp Capt P.P. Khandekar, who has been posted to Hyderabad.

Gp Captain Sood was commissioned into the IAF in January 1981 and has been trained in Russia on advanced fighter aircraft. He has served at Fighter bases as well as base repair depots. He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished service in 1994.

Mayank, Priyanka, declared Mr & Ms Fresher
Tribune News Service

Mohali, September 30
The Indo-Global Campus in Abhipur near here came alive during a freshers’ party yesterday organised by the college seniors for the new comers. A group dance was presented by Rajiv, Kajal, Preeti from the architecture and solo dance by Ranu of the same branch. A skit by the students Swambar and Anarkali was also performed. Another group dance by Barkha and Rahul, duet dance by Probhjot and Rajvinder and solo items by Ajit and Simi were also held.

Mr and Ms Fresher from Engineering College were Mr Mayank Sharma and Ms Priyanka Anand; Architecture College were Mr F. Deli and Ms Arima Bhandari; MBA College were Mr Gaurav and Ms Puja Rattan.

Mr Sukhdev Singla, chairman, Indo Global Trust, was present on the occasion.

From Schools
Students visit senior citizens’ home
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, September 30
The youth need to be sensitised towards the emotional vacuum that senior citizens face when they are forced to stay without their families, at a time when they need care and love. A step in this direction was taken when students of Hansraj Public School visited the Senior Citizen Homes at Sectors 43, 30 and 15.

The students of Classes III to V, along with the teachers, went with gifts like fruits and cards. They played antakshri, sang bhajans, recited mantras, while interacting with these “grandmothers” and “grandfathers”. The residents enjoyed listening to and singing songs of their youth.

Many of the senior citizens were reminded of their grandchildren of a similar age while the young ones saw their grandparents in the smiling faces. The visit ended in warm embraces and promises to visit again.

As a school activity the students of all classes wrote letters to their grandparents expressing their sentiments. These were later posted by the school authorities.

World Vegetarian Day: Children of Dews — the school, Sector 21, celebrated World Vegetarian Day on Friday by dressing up as different vegetables, animals and chefs. A musical parody was conducted to convey that animals are also our friends, and we should not kill them. A skit was also organised on the occasion.

Writing stories ‘difficult’
Chitleen K. Sethi
Tribune News Service

Dr Harish Dhillon

Mohali, September 30
“The Song of Silence” — Dr Harish Dhillon’s latest compilation of short stories has hit the stands. The book, his second collection of stories published by Unistar, has 15 stories that Dr Dhillon has penned over the years.

Many stories in the book were published in the Sunday Reading section of The Tribune. “While some are reprints, many are new stories. This collection, in fact, also spans the changes that have come in my style of writing over the years,” said Dr Dhillon, whose first collection of short stories “After the Storm” was published in 2001.

Principal of Yadvindra Public School, Mohali, Mr Dhillon teaches English. He has earlier written on historical themes. “The Living Saint” — a fictionalised biography of Bhagat Puran Singh by him was released a month ago.

“It seems to be a flurry of work, but actually this book was being written for some time,” he said. “Short stories are more difficult to write. The limitation of words puts your writing skills to test. One has to be brief yet do justice to the story. The short story can deal only with a limited idea, a limited set of characters and one cannot build the atmosphere, so as to say, as one can do in a novel,” said Dr Dhillon.

“I am a story teller first and story writer later. The basic ingredient of story is the answer to the question ‘what if’? This single question generates a whole chain of events. Just relating this chain in a manner that holds the interest of the listener gives birth to a short story,” he said, adding that the best criteria for judging a book is when you start reading it and cannot put the book down.

“Some of my all-time favourite short stories, are Somerset Maugham’s ‘The Unconquered’, O Henry’s ‘The Last Leaf’, Jack London’s ‘Building a Fire’, Doris Lessing’s ‘Through the Tunnel’ and D.H. Lawerance’s ‘The Man who died.”

Author of “The Wayside Tree”, “The Legend of Banda Bahadur”, “The Lives and Teachings of the Sikh Gurus”, “The Love Stories of Punjab”, Mr Dhillon has also written ‘Kali Saver’ in Punjabi.

What is he working on now? “I have just finished a book on the life and teachings of Guru Nanak. Its’ been published by a Bombay publisher, Indus Source. The book will be released in November at Mumbai by lyricist and poet Gulzar,” he said.

Is he working on something for children? “Since I head a school, it should have been the most natural thing to do. But somehow I am too intimidated by the thought of writing for children. It’s an entirely different challenge. Maybe I will retell the stories of our mythological characters for them,” he said.

Book of poems released
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30
Powerful and poignant readings from her latest anthology of poems, “As a Fountain in the Garden” marked Indo-American poet and writer Kamla K. Kapur’s book release by eminent scholar, historian and writer, Dr B.N. Goswami, at the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi auditorium here today.

A series of 31 poems connected with a common theme of the suicide by Kamla’s former husband, poet Donald Dean Powell, in 1993, brought her to the realisation that “grief could be a gift”.

Her readings were followed by a Hindi translation of her poem, Harvest, by former Director of the National School of Drama, Mr Ram Gopal Bajaj.

Dr Goswami’s tribute to her poems was rich and rewarding. “I am here for the sheer pleasure of hearing her recite her poems. The enormous craft, the great deal of thinking and the task of making it all so effortless are remarkable,” he said. “The poems are a worthy effort of a dialogue between eloquence and silence,” he added.

“Kamla Kapur, through her poems, gives a glimpse into the power and anguish that a suicide can cause in a person’s life. It is a work filled with wisdom and the ability to transform a tragic experience into art,” he said.

Mega musical show at Kalagram
S.D. Sharma

The mega musical show ‘Yaraan Naal Baharaan’ organised by the Etc Punjabi and Zee Punjabi TV channels got off to a majestic launch at Kalagram here on Friday. New young singer Feroze opened up the show with a song ‘Luk luk’ after the Scorpio dance group had done some stage warming.

The next to appear was Arvinder Singh who presented some folk items like “Chhalla” and “Teri nachdi di” from his albums before Amrinder Gill took the centrestage to sing “Bada samjhaya” “Sohni kudi” and “Punjabi munde”.

Jimmy Shergill stole the attention of the crowd as he drove on to the stage on a mobike to lend credence to the performance on his song “College wich padna bhi hai Honde te chadna bhi hai”. Juhi Babbar joined Jimmy to dance on songs “Lei main teri” and “Haan they munde” from the film “Yaraan Naal Baharaan”.

Sardool Sikandar swayed the audience with “Husan Punjab da” and “Moti akh patlo di” and the charm was coupled as his better half and singer Amar Noorie joined him. Malkit Singh’s “Ajj bhangra paun nu jee karda” and “Kudi patole wargi” were well received.

“We are dedicated to the promotion of Punjabi culture,” said Rabinder Naryana, president of Etc Punjabi and Zee Punjabi, while claiming the popularity of Bhangra Monsoon Live recorded in Chandigarh.

Film maker Manmohan Singh, music director Jaidev Kumar , Harbhajan Maan and Jasbir Jassi too graced the occasion.

Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi compered the programme.

Veena wizard casts a spell

Close on the heels of a classical music concert by Ustad Kamal Sabri, SPIC- MACAY brought yet another magical performance by Mohan Veena wizard Vishwa Mohan Bhatt at the IMTECH auditorium on Friday.

The Grammy Award winner, in a rare spectacle, established his supremacy in instrumental and vocal music.

He opened the concert with an exposition of raga Puriya Dhaneshari with an elaborate alaap bringing alive the melody of all octaves with precision.

He moved on to present a gat in vilambat and drut laya, both set to teen taal, virtually sending the audience in a reverie. OC