Chandigarh, November 23
On the occasion of the National Pharmacy Week- 2005, the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Punjab branch, and Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, Panjab University, organised a series of functions. The theme of the week was “Know your pharmacist”.

A procession of over two hundred persons was taken out. The rally moved around the campus and displayed placards. The purpose of the rally was to spread awareness among the masses regarding the indispensable role of a pharmacist in the upliftment of the health care system as a whole.

Prof V.R. Sinha, Secretary, IPA, Punjab branch, Prof T.R. Bhardwaj, president, IPA, Punjab branch and Prof O. P. Katare, Chairman, and other faculty members led the rally. Students, teachers and professionals from other pharmacy colleges in and around the city also joined the rally.

A rally was taken out on the campus on Monday to mark the beginning of the pharmacy week.

To continue the celebrations, various events like slogan writing, poster-making, collage making and quiz were conducted yesterday. A competent panel judged the presentations. On Tuesday, Dr. K. C. Jindal, executive vice-president, R & D, Panacea Biotech, Lalru, deliberated on “Intellectual Property Rights”. A blood donation camp was also organised in collaboration with Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, in the department.

Fiftyfive students, including teachers and staff donated blood. An elocution competition was also organised during the week. Michelle of UIPS was awarded the first prize, Kiran of NIPER and Shipla of Women’s Polytechnic got the second prize. 

Chandigarh, November 23
Dr Akshaya Kumar, Department of English, Panjab University, today spoke on ‘Aesthetics of subaltern literature’ in the Department of Sociology, Panjab University, as part of a lecture series.

Introducing the theme Prof Manjit Singh highlighted the significance of the construction of alternative history, social sciences and production of literature that was central to the people’s work and lived experience. There was an urgent need to throw off the yoke of hegemonic discourse in order to strengthen democracy as understood in the classical literature. It was all the more important in the case of India where society was highly fragmented on various ethnic identities — the caste ideology being the central to our social existence.

In his lecture Dr Akshaya Kumar explained that the project of Subaltern historiography started in mid 1980s had not only exposed the politics of quasi-spiritualised nationalist politics, it also sensitised the historians of the need of re-writing history from the people’s point of view. For instance, Dalit discourse, which became a very significant site of subaltern historiography, took off in a big way in Maharashtra in 1970s after the formation of Dalit Panthers.

Dr Kumar, however, expressed worry that of late even the Subaltern literature was being appropriated by the metropolitan academia. The Subaltern theorists had evinced little participation in people’s movements. What was urgently needed, said Akshaya, was a post-Subaltern poetics, which would entail not only a cautious engagement with theory but also a critical dismantling of the academia itself. The way the excluded space of the Subaltern was appropriated by the rich diaspora or economically well-off communities within the nation-state like Parsis or Sindhis in India also did not augur well for the project itself, added Dr Akshaya.

Reacting to the tenor of the argument of the lecture, Prof Rajmohini Sethi, said that even if there were attempts to overshadow Dalit literature, one of the major forms of Subaltern literature, we could undermine the impact it had left on the liberative agenda. Dr Kumool Abbi, Department of Sociology, also expressed reservations regarding the claims of the speaker that poetry could not be a medium of subaltern literature.

Prof S.P. Sehgal, Department of Hindi, further extended the argument and explained how the very language was being misused by the so called ‘elite Subaltern’ writers. Dr I.D. Gaud, Department of History, exposed the hollowness of some of the elite Subaltern critics who themselves had plagiarised the idea from the writings of the revolutionary Italian writer A. Gramsci.

The seminar was attended by a large number of students and young scholars from different disciplines.

Chandigarh, November 23
All plays staged during the five-day TFT Fest-2005 were based on diverse themes but replete with the incisive criticism of the growing disparity among the classes. The play, “Gadhe Ki Baraat” was staged at the Tagore Theatre today.

The original Marathi creation of “Hari Bhai Vadgaokar”, with translation in Hindi by Rajender Mehra and Ramesh Hans, is a powerful satire on the role of present day kings in the garb of affluent politicians, religious patriarchs or the corrupt governance. The play was widely welcome by the audience.

Directed by Sudesh Sharma, the play, presented in “nautanki” style, is structured simultaneously in the mythological and real life of a Chitarsen Gandharv, who earns the wrath of celestial king Indra and is condemned to lead the life of a donkey on earth.

Kallu, a potter, grooms the donkey with affection and love. Blessed with the exceptional powers, the animal completes the bridge which entitled the donkey to marry the princess as per a vow undertaken by her.

However, the donkey is transformed back to the life of Chitrasen. The sequence of events that follows through lively acting spells with crisp dialogues laced with humour and musical renditions keep the curiosity of the audience alive.

Whatever untoward may happen in the social order or the governance, it is the common man, who had to bear the brunt in any case, is the volatile truth revealed in the play with inexorable logic.

The chief guest was Mr A.P. Pandey, ADGP, Vigilance, Punjab, who honoured the artistes.

Theatre buffs in the city are the most receptive and appreciative of serious and meaningful theatre, opine most of the theatre groups that come to perform in the City Beautiful.

It is indeed creditable for director Umesh Kant and his team that the play “Ek aur Dronacharya” merited prestigious participation in the national multilingual theatre festival being held at Pune in January next.

The audience, however, was treated to a rare delight of solo performances today as both the plays were presented in stern monologue forms under the direction of Sudesh Sharma. The opening play dealt with the bold themes of women empowerment for living life on their own terms.

The opening presentation based on famous writer Nirmal Verma’s story “Week End” was indeed a formidable challenge for the solo performer Kanchan Gupta.

But she filled the stage with striking actions only to negate the apprehensions and enliven the performance with a grandiose spirit.

A passive victim of exploitation she attempted to bare the complexities of human relationships, especially those not accepted by society, besides exploring the psyche of a man under varied circumstances.

Representing a class, the character portrayed by Kanchan refused to accept the shackles of taboos and tradition. Caught in a dilemma of love for her married partner and fearful dread of his daughter child, she expressed her agonised and anguished psyche through her spontaneous emotional outbursts.

She, however, at times was not in her usual self while portraying roles of other characters featuring in the play. ‘Dedh Inch Oupper’ was another bold presentation in the monologue form by young Shanti Saini.

The original play had been subjected to certain aberrations to reveal the terrorism days in Punjab. Of late the protagonist realizes the involvement of his wife in the terrorist activities. In a solo presentation

Shanti Saini bares the mysterious mind of woman which a man may not be able to understand in a lifetime.

He juxtaposed the events which made him to believe her wife to be a paragon of virtue, sincerity and devotion.

The protagonist Shanti, representing the psyche of a cheated husband portrayed the diverse moods like being romantic deeply in love with his wife, in a solitary confined mood and zealous at being quite aware of the terrorist’s links of his wife. Chief guest Dr Vinod Khera honoured the artistes.