Theatre in Shimla: Missing Gaiety
Theatre in Shimla came alive with two back-to-back festivals last month — a weeklong show featuring 15 one-act plays by as many local groups, and the All-India Dance and Drama Competition. These festivals might have given an impetus to the lacklustre theatre activity in the town, but they also brought to the centrestage all that ails it.

Breathing life into miniature paintings After sinking and craving for survival for long, Kangra’s trademark art form gets a fresh lease of life The Kangra School of Painting— Kangra Kalm— has been described as the ‘art of patience, labour and native devotion.’ Attributed to this school is the art of miniature paintings, described as an ‘art of delicacy of line, brilliancy of colours and minuteness of details.’ Tracing Kangra’s legacy Many artists fled the Mughal courts to escape the depredations of invaders like Nader Shah Durrani and Ahmed Shah Abdali. They sought refuge in the serenity of the Kangra valley. The artists received patronage from the hill rulers and they incorporated new elements in the Mughal style.Through the dedication of the successive generations of the native artists, it developed its distinctive feature known as the Kangra School.

Remembering Ranaji
A tribute to Rana Arjun Singh, who dedicated his life working for society
A freedom fighter-cum-revolutionary, a social worker and a veteran Congressman, Rana Arjun Singh was all rolled in one. He breathed his last early this month and would always be remembered for his exemplary social work. He is survived by his three sons.

Majestic ride
Meet the hill capital’s Rani Mukherjee & Kajol... Any trip is incomplete without a ritual ride on the royally dressed four-legged wonder, says Priya Gill
Her shiny coat glistens in the sun, her radiance is unmatched. Eyes upon eyes watch her sculpted muscles moving to the beat of her sudden steps. Adorned like a maharani, such majesty stands before us.

Arrested development
The Nahan Jail is overcrowded
The condition of inmates housed in the local Central Model Jail is no better despite the directives of the apex court and the National Human Rights Commission guaranteeing the rights of the prisoners.

Rooted in tinsel town
It has been lying here for years. Those were the days when it enjoyed importance owing to the special place it held in a popular Bollywood flick Kudrat, starring Hema Malini and Rajesh Khanna. The deodar tree christened Paro-Madhu, takes its name from the lead cast of the movie. The huge stem of this huge tree in Naldehra forest now lies neglected and ignored.

vignettes
The Gandhi connection
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur may have inherited Manorville but her’s was a life spent in the service of the nation & and its father. She often distributed pamphlets and Harijan bulletins in Gunj Bazaar

OrganiC REVOLUTION
Vice-Chancellor Tej Pratap Singh is ready for new challenges in the agricultural sector Rakesh Lohumi
Back at the helm for a second term as vice-chancellor of Chaudhary Shrawan Kumar Agriculture University, Palampur, Dr Tej Pratap Singh feels that he is much better equipped to carry forward his unfinished agenda to reform and restructure the institution to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

A ray of hope
The district leprosy hospital at Sarol village, near Chamba town, brings a ray of hope to the people suffering from this disease.

Holy temples, unholy mess
Once called Brahmpura, the capital of the state of Bharmour, the town still retains its temples and monuments, some of them dating back to the seventh century.

Shimla diary
Problem of the meter
The verbal assurance given by chief minister Virbhadra Singh to taxi owners in the state as far as the metered taxi scheme is concerned, has left senior transport officials in a quandary as they are desperately looking for a way out to resolve the impasse.