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Artists in their own RIGHT
An amazing eye for detail, out of the box thinking and the ability to improvise make them the Man Friday for every vintage car owner in the region. As they say, it is easy to buy an old car, but maintaining it is the difficult part! But this diminishing tribe ensures the graceful ladies keep rolling down the roads. Balbir Singh, an electrician in Sector 17, is a wizard at the electrical aspect of cars. Older cars have the six-volt system. Since spares of this system get harder to come by these days and call for specialized skills, electricians opt for conversion to twelve-volt. “I have never made one such conversion in my 50-year career,” says a proud Balbir. Once somebody brought a 1965 model car to him that had not been running for five years. Though not a mechanic, he started the car in less than one minute. None of the earlier technicians could figure out the firing order of the old car! At another time, a car enthusiast, Baljit Manco, brought his 1938 Peugot to Balbir as his car was not running though it had been fine a month earlier. Two hours later, Balbir knew why. “During servicing, an enthusiastic young mechanic had fixed the pipe from the fuel tank into the carburetor outlet,” he remembers. Balbir’s forte, however, is dynamo repair. While a repaired dynamo recharges battery slowly, a wave of his magic wand and the battery is recharged faster than a normal dynamo even on low rpm. Satinder Sarkaria too has restored many beautiful cars. Recently, he got to know about the chassis of an old car in a village near Ludhiana. On a visit to the village, he found the beauty standing next to a wall. From the chassis and the four spoked wheel rims it was even difficult to determine the make of the car. Just the kind of challenge he was looking for! He was quick to shell out Rs 13,000 and brought it to the workshop. Then began research to seek out the identity of the new acquisition. Going by the distance between the front axle and the rear one, it could be a MG. But which one? He contacted the main MG Motor Club of UK to find out about marks of identification. Finally, it turned out to be a 1933 MG series P. What gave away the car’s identity? Positioning of the spare wheel frame! MG TC cars were made between 1946 and 1949, says Sarkaria. “I always wanted to own one but the asking price was too much. So I decided to make my own,” he tells. He made the chassis on which the rest of the car was made. This car is powered by a B series BMC engine. He has just restored a woody 1952 Plymouth to mouthwatering originality. Normally, engine numbers are engraved on the engine block, but in this car they have been punched on an aluminum tag attached to the engine. If one had the chance, who wouldn’t like to take a dip in a canvas pool on the roof of a caravan? This is exactly what Sohan Singh Bhambra, a fabricator, made 30 years ago under the watchful eyes of late AVM Harjinder Singh. Sadly, nobody knows where the caravan, made on a bus chassis, is now. Car enthusiasts still flock to Bhambra to get their vehicles realtered. Last year, he made a replica of a 1906 from a 1965 Standard Herald – complete with running boards and water tank. He used the fuel tank of a Maruti 800 as the original had been stolen! Dashboard meters came from an Ambassador, the float in the fuel tank from a 1956 Fiat and a carburetor also from a Fiat. Sohan Singh once got the chance to remake the cabin bodies of two four-seater helicopters that had been destroyed in crashes. For him learning is an ongoing experience. Outside a hotel in Sector 22 are two beauties that swear by Nanak Chand’s dexterity. Anyone who has a VW has in all probability been Nanak’s customer. While working for Sarkaria, he used to alter the engine tuning so that the car would run on kerosene! Kerosene cost Rs 1 a litre then. One fine winter morning Nanak found two frustrated German couples at his doorstep. They were on their way from Germany to Singapore and the brakes of their VW would not work and they had been to many mechanics. He solved their problem with a washer costing Rs10! The relieved visitors gifted him a camera. Bachittar Singh is a mechanic with an eye for detail. He is a master at designing dashboards for fabricated cars. One of his achievements has been fitting a Zen’s power brake in a 1954 Morris. Amar Nath Salhotra is a radiator expert. Anybody who has owned an old car must have rung Salhotra’s bell at some time for he repairs and even makes them. He has visitors like Amar coming all the way from Siliguri! He advises: “The fan belt should be tight, the fan working and the hosepipes in working order.” Next time you see an ageless beauty glide past, you know who made it possible. As they say, a great drive in a great car stays with you forever, but a great drive in a classic car ruins you for any other automotive experience. Are you ready?
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Not just MELAS
Chandigarh winters are marked by exhibitions. On winter days and windy evenings, exhibitions are a nice escape, especially since you never know what you might find!
A lot of them are held in the dusty maidans. Some of them have too may jars of pickles and vegetable cutting gadgets and hardly anything else. Some of the fairs are so crowded that the feat of walking around requires an oxygen mask. Some have an awful lot of hideous sweaters or bizarre books on meditation. One exhibition that I went to in the Bal Bhawan had beautiful sarees from West Bengal. As I began to chat in Bengali with the salesmen, they took to me like a duck takes to water. As I made attempts to find something nice, they resolved that I would be an ideal person they could pour their hearts out to. They started by complaining about the utter apathy of the exhibition authorities, followed by minute details of their sufferings that included heat rashes, water shortage and diarrhea. When I tried to gently bring them back to the sarees at hand, one of the two men, with abject woe in his eyes, started to tell me about his village and the hardships of his four-year old son. I ended up buying many more sarees than I had actually planned to. A lot of the exhibitions are held in the Panchayat Bhawan. Somehow, exhibitions seem to attract a lot more women than men. The last exhibition I went to had a stall with a dazzling array of precious stone jewellery from Rajasthan. One lady spent a great deal of time admiring a piece of Lapis and then put it down. When the owner espoused glories of lapis, she said – “Aakhir yeh to patthar hi hai.” Then, along came two very old women, one with a majestic face and a walking stick and the other still very erect and wearing a princely shawl. They enquired about the moonstones. When he produced some beautiful moonstone earrings, they asked me if I would mind wearing them for proper effect. As I dutifully did so, one of the old ladies dreamily reminisced and told me stories about how her grandmother had a moonstone brought into India by Arab traders during the spice trade. Then in a truly grandmotherly fashion, she started appraising me – and commented on how I must not be putting oil in my hair, must not be eating enough, and must be spending too much time on the computer! As I stood there being duly chastised, they suggested quite a few stones that would be good for my overall being and banish many of the ill effects of the modern womanhood. The owner too joined in – egging them on and taking out one beautiful piece after another. I am now a proud owner of a few very pretty strands of stone necklaces. Every time I wear them, I think of those grand old ladies and how an exhibition can be so much more than just a mela!
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Balle balle for Bhangra babe
Katharine
is like any Indian, is a complete Hindi movie buff, but it was her love
for Bhangra, which brought her to India. Coming from Australia,
with her family in toe, including a 9-month old baby boy, a seven –
year old daughter and her husband, Katharine is learning to jive with
the Bhangra beats. A professional percussionist and a tabla
player of the Delhi Gharana, Katharine Tempany, visited India for
the first time more than ten years ago for her Guru, Umakanthadas’s
wedding in Orissa. Little did she know at that time that the
reverberating beats and rhythms created by the accompanying barat
mandli would change her life forever. " I heard the dhol for
the first time at his wedding and fell for it there and then,"
avers Katharine. "Umakanthadas suggested me to visit Punjab and
Chandigarh if I wanted to get the real feel, but unfortunately I couldn’t
make it at that time," she says. Back in Melbourne, where she
lives, marriage happened and then kids followed, but the love of Dhol
and the zeal to learn Bhangra didn’t go. "I began
pursuing a degree in music (composition) in western music and at the
same time started buying all the Indian Bhangra and Punjabi music
DVDs I could lay my hands on". Not to familiarise herself with the
music but to make her husband, Geoffrey Towl, to like the music and
accompany her to India. "Oh Kehdi was the first DVD I
bought and would play it all day long and the trick worked", laughs
Katharine. Hereafter started the research on Bhangra and its
beats. They thank the Punjabi taxi drivers in Melbourne, who added on to
their little knowledge of the music. "Some guys would tell us to go
to Jalandhar or may be Patiala". Thanks to Rhythm of Life, an
international workshop on folk dances of India organised by CIPA,
Chandigarh at Kalagram, this Australian family, along with Carolyn
Wheeler, a New Yorker having 10 grand children could live out their
passion for the dance. "Bhangra is a happy medium and the
kind of socially cut off lives we westerners live, out there, it’s the
best way to be connected to each other," says Katharine. No wonder
the husband wife duo plan to teach the steps to other communities back
in Melbourne. Her husband, who was busy with his Yogasanas and
didn’t want to be disturbed, is taking lessons in playing the huge
Punjabi dhol. Among the other Punjabi singers, Katharine dotes on
folk songs by Hansraj Hans. If you think Katharine’s interest is just
confined to Bhangra think again for she loves cooking Indian Dals
and Paneer ki sabzi and is particularly impressed by Satyajit Ray
who she claims is a global phenomenon for his sensibilities as a
filmmaker and artistic frames in his films. As we leave with her
daughter Angelique singing Zara Jhoom Jhoom from the movie Tom
Dick and Harry, Katharine says, "No matter how difficult it is
to shake a leg like the Punjabis, Shyam ji (Shyam Juneja, the
organiser) ko naraz nahi karungi."
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The weave divine Upon entering the main hall at Panchayat Bhavan, the aroma of fresh herbs and masalas welcomes you. The Chikankari work stall is a bit out of place, but turn around and a hall full of enchanting silks, handicraft and handlooms meets the eye. Also on display are some handicraft from other states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Undoubtedly, most attractive are the Ikkat saris and the sophisticated Pochampallis. The range includes Gadwal cotton, Upadda, heavy zari Dharamvaram, Kanchi, Narayanpet, Mangalkari, Venkatgiri, and Kalamkari saris. Kalamkari dress material and cotton tussar fabric is available for Rs 80 to 150 per metre. Perhaps the most striking among the handicrafts are the Charmkari paintings etched out on goatskin. One of the craftsmen manning the stall told us about the most ancient art form — Charmkari puppets – that is still performed in the state. The art has been extended to making lampshades, cut work paintings in different sizes and these can also be found mounted on silver frames. Rs 250 for a small piece to Rs 550 for a medium piece mounted on silver frames and Rs 1,500 for a bigger sized leather painting depicting scenes from scriptures. Then there are religious motifs on silk, including the ten Vishnu Avatars, in vegetable dyes for Rs 600. Also available are Madhubani paintings from Bihar, and Pattu paintings depicting scenes from the raaslila. Prices start at Rs 140. No exhibition from Andhra can be complete without the pearl jewellery from Hyderabad. Pearl and semi precious stone jewellery sets start at Rs 550. Check out pearl necklaces, pendant sets, with semi precious stones and zircons. There is a discount of 10 per cent on handicraft items and 20 per cent on handloom items. A good Sunday outing! (On till Feb 26)
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Coffee with Mocha
Winter is about to say goodbye, how about a cuppa’ of hot Kenyan coffee with beans procured straight from the Kenya, a Toblerone Shake or Choco-Avalanche – a combination of chocolate mousse, layers of thick chocolate syrup and lots of chocolate scoops or may be Vertigo- a four layered dense gooey chocolate, tempted already? Well this is just a bit of what’s on offer in the newly opened fifteenth outlet of Mocha coffee and conversations in Sector 26. Perhaps the most informal place, that invites all. Only those ready to indulge in chocolaty sins leaving their calorie worries behind are welcome here. Enter the place and it promises to take you to Morocco with its plush red interiors and décor. So what makes Mocha different from others in the league? “It’s the grungy experience. One can just walk in and push aside the table he or she wants to occupy or may be just squat in the corner on the seating arrangement on the floor with an old pirate box, placed carefully in the centre. “You won’t find fork on the left and a knife on the right. Feel free to put it across as you want,” informs Prashant Batra, franchisee of Mocha outlet in the city. So the place is a complete break the rules and no mannerisms needed kind. The menu can have anyone flummoxed. Starting from desserts, coffee, teas, shakes and coolers, it also has the most sought after maggi noodles to offer. And that too in exotic flavors such as Maggi noodles Arabiata, Maggi and Noodles Thai style. Coffee and desserts being Mocha’s forte, here one can choose from more than fifteen different varieties of hot coffees and an equal number of shakes and coolers. Mocha takes the lead by introducing for the first time the concept of all day breakfast. Surprised, right from cutting chai with bun and maska a la Parsi style, to Mumbaiya breakfast of Keema Ghotala and pao to Poutine, a street food of western Canada to Tapas a wine-accompanying platter to Paninis –Italian flatbread sandwiches with succulent fillings, Mocha has it all. As they say, save the best for the last, just in case you happen to like the furniture you were sitting on or may be the cutlery you had food with or the lamp shade placed next to your table, while you were savouring the sumptuous food, you can take it home with you by paying the article’s price. The concept is Mocha life shop, and it can all be yours as every article has its price tag hanging along. Get going, dig in the foodstuff and get home what you like.
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Know yourself With exams around the corner, February is tough on students. Stay calm and collected and you’ll sail through, says Renee Singh
As the Board exams come closer, children and parents tend
to panic. In every child’s life span some periods are pleasurable and
others stressful. But surely we have to learn new skills to deal with
each new period.
Right now, confidence is of utmost importance and is
the major skill to learn. It means being sure of your self worth, being
competent to know how to deal with the situation and responsibility
would mean knowing how to prioritise and take decisions accordingly. By
the time students reach the board examination level, I’m sure dealing
with exam stress has almost become a habit, but somehow, each year we
tend to repeat our patterns of stressing. Actually if you sit down to
work with a calm and collected attitude things always work out better.
Remember try to work with a plan using the following steps: - What do I
know? - What do I need to know? - How do I plan? - How do I divide my
time? - How to organise all the information in my mind? - What is the
information worth keeping and which can be thrown out? - How do I keep
my confidence levels high? Actually from time to time every student
should set aside some breathing space. Try working or developing the
following qualities. Self Reliance Recognise
your own needs, see how you can fulfill them. Learn to believe in
yourself and also accept your weaknesses and strengths. Be aware of your own ways of protecting
yourself. It is your ability to gauge your capabilities that will see
you sail through your exams. It
is very important to respect yourself and others. This helps in
developing a spirit in you that allows you a special level of
confidence. It
is constantly required to overcome all levels of inertia and takes you
to the zenith of experiencing achievements. Most important of them all. No matter
what you do at other times, if you just decide to discipline yourself
till the exams get over, the rest will just fall into place. Just keep
an open mind and work at what you need to do very seriously. Do not try
and compete with anyone. Each one of you as an individual is unique in
yourself so at this particular time of examination when you need to
harness all your skills and energy just do things best suited to your
own unique way of functioning. Please don’t allow anyone else to
colour your judgment on your way of functioning. (To be continued)
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Our love story For Ratna and K. Sridharan it is love till eternity
We studied together in the same school, same class. He gave me a surprise gift on my birthday in Class 10, which I diplomatically refused to take! Being reserved and shy, my nature didn’t permit me to be friends with boys. Then we went on a class picnic on February 9, 1991 where he melted my heart by writing I Love You in red... I began reciprocating his feelings. Our courtship continued through school and college, even though I was in a girls’ college, till we got married in July 1999! Our families were okay with our marriage because we came from the same community, a major issue for my father since I was the eldest of his four daughters. We have our usual ups and downs, but I know that our daughter, Kamya, who came as a
great blessing in November 2001, our love will only blossom and develop into a never-to-break bond. After seven-and-a-half years of a happy married life and about eight-and-a half-years of blissful courtship, I bet we are the most romantic couple Valentine’s Day would ever see... God bless our
jodi! Destiny decided that Arun & Shilpi Ahuja
stay together
I was going home from my hostel in Jammu to Udhampur in November of 2003. I got into the bus but there was no seat vacant except one next to a broken window. As it was getting dark, I had no choice. Next to me sat a boy from Chandigarh with his friend. They were going to Udhampur to take an exam made enquiries about the place. As my stop approached, he asked my e-mail id and only God knows why I gave it to him! He emailed me off and on. In January 2004, we again met. We kept in touch till one fine day he indirectly proposed marriage. Initially, I thought that this guy from Chandigarh was taking me for a ride. Not sure I simply thought of avoiding him and his calls. There was no contact for over a year. One fine day I found him online. It felt really nice talking to him after such a long time. We exchanged mobile numbers and a few days later I realised I had been in love all this while. I completed my masters in August and got married on February 23, 2006. We have been blessed with a little angel, AruShi (Arun & Shilpi). Her birth has made our relationship even stronger and I am grateful to god. Life has shown that one must listen to one’s heart. Not everyone is lucky enough to get a second chance!
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Strings of emotion
“With it’s inviting depths explored in various streams of music, like folk, devotional or contemporary popular music, the Indian classical music has many diverse cultural contexts,” says Asghar Hussain, the young violin virtuoso of the Delhi gharana. In city for to perform, Asghar Hussain says there had been few takers for opting the ‘Violin’ because of its Italian origin and complexity of learning it. “After Sarangi the violin is the only musical instrument capable of bringing alive, like the human voice, the whole spectrum of human emotions,” says Asghar. Son of Tabla exponent, Ustad Anwar Hussain, he made the hard choice for a nine year old. The tutelage of violin wizard, Ustad Zahoor Ahmed Khan, and now noted vocalist, Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan, has contributed to making him a violinist and composer of national eminence. Performing at leading and prestigious music festivals in India, UK, USA, Canada, Middle East and European countries, Ashgar, amazes with his adroit mastery of gayaki and tanarkari ang of Indian music together with perfect fusion of Western repertoire and techniques on the instrument. “I am still a learner but my training in western classical music from Delhi school of music helped me achieve excellence in fusion and Jugalbandi compositions while working with foreign artists as also for cutting three fusion albums with Music Today,” he says. In India the violin prominently been used for film music. But legends like VG Jog, DK Datar, Dr N Rajam and her daughter Sangita Rajam accorded a significant status to violin as solo classical performing string instrument like the Sarod and Sitar. “I see the bright future of instrument music,” says Asghar Hussain.
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A silk exhibition-cum-sale is on at Fabindia. Tussar, chanderi and mangalagiri silks styled in traditional and contemporary designs for men, women and children are on display and sale. The garments and accessories are in a riot of colours, textures, weaves and prints. On show are trendy and stylish kurtas, dupattas and stoles with exquisite embroidered and patchwork. The collection also showcase silk Indo-western wear for women and children. Do check out the suits in tussar silk with Mughal jaals, kurtas for men in silk, and dupattas in delicate chanderi and mangalgiri fabrics and tussar with traditional prints. (On till Sunday)
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Drop negativity
I am 23-year-old with a
serious resentment against my mother. She seems to be ruling my life.
Everything I do has to be according to her wishes. I feel she has even
turned my father against me and constantly tries to come between my
brothers and me. I have to bear the brunt for anything that goes wrong.
I feel lost and insecure and I cannot concentrate on anything. Please
help. Roma Chawla, You
are carrying too much anger and resentment within you. Please try to get
rid of this. You have to take charge of your life and your situation and
stop reacting to your mother. After all you must realise that deep
inside she loves you but does not know how to show it. It is her own
insecurity that she is projecting by showing you down in front of your
siblings or even your father. Change your way of thinking. Learn to
value yourself. Believe me your mother will value you too. I am
37-year-old, married for the past 10 years to a beautiful woman. We have
two lovely daughters. I have a great business and we share a very
comfortable lifestyle. But recently I have started feeling that my wife
is distant and aloof. May times I find her brooding and a lot of times I
simply wonder at the sadness that I see in her eyes. I wonder the reason
behind this. I asked her but she said I was imagining all this. How can
I maker her happy. Manraj Sandhu,
It is encouraging to know
that there are such wonderful and caring men around in society. Go for a
short holiday, far away from your familiar environment, and then talk
about it. She may be carrying some issues from the past or even in the
present, which she is afraid to tell you. Otherwise, if you know of a
good friend she has, ask her to help out in the situation. It might even
be a phase your wife is going through. Sometimes some people need their
own space to deal with certain issues. Just give her love and attention
and allow the situation to work out itself.
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It is not just another exhibition. It’s a collection of the heritage of the beautiful land of Andhra Pradesh brought to the city by the AP Handicrafts Development Corporation. For those who want to wear Indian, made by Indians, the exhibition boasts of a range of fabrics. And the very artisans who wove them are here to sell them too.
Apache Indian is back in India with his new rastafarian look, a new album titled Sadhu-The Movement on Tips Music featuring 16 tracks and includes some big collaborations from around the globe including Sachin Gupta, Jim Beanz, Mana, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukshinder Shinda, Alisha Chinoy, Dalvinder Singh and more! Apache is now living in Goa where he has set up a Sadhu Rasta Camp. Join the movement that brings together good spirits from around the globe, where your soul can be free, music is played and where charity work is done!
— D.P. 