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Early show
Is the trend of showcasing art through amateur student groups a healthy one? We find out….
Rewind: In 1998, 13 students of the Government College of Art formed a group called Great Artists. It aimed at proving a platform to budding artists by organizing exhibitions. The group survived till 2003, actually till they got scattered for their professional obligations. Fast forward: The year is 2008 and four students, Shiven Tanwar, Akash Gaur, Rakesh Kumar and Praveen Kumar, students of the Government College of Art, formed the group Four and launched themselves with an exhibition at the Government Museum and Art Gallery-10. They all have dispersed now, two of them are doing their MFA from different universities and the rest working. But soon, they plan to come back together to hold another exhibition, this time in Delhi.
New kid on the block: The latest is the group called Bunch. It has 11 members, some passed out from the GCA and some still doing their degrees. It recently launched itself with an exhibition at Government Museum and Art Gallery. It's yet to see how long the group will sustain itself. A peep into the recent past of the GCA-10 shows the coming and going of several such groups. And when such a group is formed, there would inevitable media hype, for though for an art reviewer, the quality of work may or may not be all that impressive, but their enthusiasm is. And everybody likes a little positivity in a city like this, where the art scene is almost next to nothing. Then again, one cannot help but think along the line of Jatin Das, who during his visit to the city early this year made no bones about the way he felt about this trend. Just to jog one's memory, here is his famous quote, "One does not work for an exhibition. It is the opposite. First, you work and then decide to exhibit. I am not a bad artist myself but I exhibited my paintings in Kolkata after 20 years, in Mumbai after 11 years and will now put up a show after nine years." To make his point, Das brought in the popularity of acrylic as a medium of expression among young artists. "Acrylic is a medium which can be used to paint a frame at night, gets dried in the morning and ready to be sold in the afternoon."
So, what should it be? Should this trend of college students hiring private galleries to showcase their art be encouraged? Many students go on record saying such private exhibitions are helpful as it acts as a parameter in knowing one's own value as an artist. However, the elders differ, though they totally do not frown upon the trend. "Only final year students should go for such private exhibitions and that too, they should start with helping senior artists to organise their exhibitions. That would be helpful in developing organising skills as well as marketing talent," says Alka Jain. "Students organising their private group shows is neither a new trend nor a bad one. But they should have a body of work before they come out in the public and should involve some senior artist in the selection procedure. Visual art is unlike classical music and dance where the guru-shishya parampara is strong, disciples, only after obtaining their guru's approval, go on to the stage. So, one has to be sure about the quality of their work before they display," says Diwan Manna, chairperson of the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi. Diwan, who feels in this competitive world it does good for students to have exposure has, in fact, instituted an scholarship programme for young artists. He soon plans to exhibit the work of eight artists who have been working under this scheme for the past one year. Indeed a good platform for the budding artists. In fact, the city needs more such organisations coming out with such fellowships so that the real talents get a platform to rise. And for the rest, there are always the annual college exhibitions to bank on! parbina@tribunemail.com
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"Yes, students are in a haste these days to showcase their work and I think the teachers should act as a guardian, giving them an honest opinion about their work - whether it is good or bad. And not only success at a tender age can stop a person's artistic growth, but also failure. If the media gives a bad review to someone's work, that person may get morally depressed and never recover again in life," she says.
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Cultural call
Bollywood is one medium that can promote Indian culture around the world, says Rani Actor Rani Mukherjee, who is here to promote her upcoming movie Dil Bole Hadippa at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), believes that Bollywood can play a key role in promoting Indian culture and heritage around the world. “Besides entertainment, Bollywood can be a powerful medium in educating millions of people of Indian origin and others about Indian culture and heritage and strengthening global connections,” she said. The actor, who is back on silver screen after a gap of one year, set aside the rumours of her marriage and said her mother is a continuous inspiration to do films. “My mother inspired me to go the films, otherwise I would have been now mother of two children,” she said on the eve of the World Premiere of her movie. Rani, who played the role of a cricketer guised as a man in Dil Bole Hadippa, said she worked hard for six months to learn cricket before she could play it on screen. The actor, whose favourite cricketer is Sachin Tendulkar, advocated that more and more women should learn the game. The 31 year-old actor said while Hindi films have earlier featured at the Toronto International Film Festival, this is the first time world premiere of films taking place. Last year’s surprise hit of the festival, Slumdog Millionaire, went on to become a huge international success and clinched the Academy Awards. — PTI
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Britain-based Indian filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra, who is attempting an action thriller for the first time with Chase, says he is taking a big risk by making such a movie. “It is quite possible that over the years people who have begun to like my films get disappointed since my films are mostly issue-based and there is no issue attached to Chase. On the other hand, those who don’t like my kind of films would think this will also be an issue-based film so why go and watch it. “So there is a risk from both sides. But one has to take chances in life,” Mundhra said. Chase is the debut film of television star Anuj Saxena. It also stars Udita Gosmi. —IANS
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21 saal baad
Neil Nitin Mukesh was seen as a child actor in the 1988 film Vijay, which also featured Rishi Kapoor and Hema Malini. The trio is now set to come together after 21 long years for Ken Ghosh’s new film.“Now isn’t that a once in a lifetime coincidence?” Ghosh exclaimed. “For me, getting Neil Nitin Mukesh, Rishi Kapoor and Hema Malini to star in the film was good enough and now this fact being highlighted has only proven to be the icing on the cake,” the director said. In Vijay, each of the three actors had a rather strange screen appearance and they hardly shared screen space. While Neil played Hema Malini’s little son, Rishi went on to play his grown up version. This made Hema Malini Rishi Kapoor’s on-screen mom. “Well, Rishi Kapoor and Hema Malini are pretty much paired opposite each other in my film. While they represent the older generation, Neil would play a contemporary character. And, yes, unlike Vijay where the script didn’t allow the three of them to share screen space together, there would be ample scenes between them here,” Ghosh said. As a child actor, Neil has played not just a young Rishi but also a young Govinda in Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni in 1989. Talking about his career choice, Neil says he is living the dream of his legendary grandfather, singer Mukesh, by opting for a career in Bollywood. “I never saw him. But I have heard a lot about him from my grandmother. From her I heard stories of his forays into film acting,” Neil said —IANS
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Mann ka radio…
With PU all set to have its own radio channel, we tune in to the youngsters’ expectations Seriously speaking, the news is worth hooting for in a true hoodlum manner. Finally, students will be tuned into Panjab University, only on…whatever the frequency! Skip the technicalities, never mind we’re yet to get frequency allotment or the license consent due by the ministry. The nod from the center is enough green signal to list out what we want and what we wish. Would it be on the lines of English high-school teen dramas? Where Skateboarding kids, just vent their emotions out on the microphone while on the way to class. “That’s really exciting. I wish it’s on the lines of FM channels with youth-oriented fast and fun programming otherwise I think it might be a flop show,” feels Suffanmeet Kaur, engineering student, PTU. The ones wishing for catchy, funky, live programming with lots of slang thrown in between might just know it’s a community radio. Says Nirwair Singh, student, Department of Laws, “It’s a great platform for the students to raise their voice, raise issues, educate themselves. A healthy balance of education and entertainment is called for.” Chips in, Suffanmeet, “Even to educate audience it’s first important to lure them into listening and for that you have to make it appealing.” Here we go, how about Beatles for mornings, evenings with Bob Dylan, Coldplay and Linking Park thrown in between throughout the day and ‘a student’s ultimate anthem’ We don’t Want no education running in the background! Laughs Nikita Nikhanj, Functional English student, Government College, “Nobody wants it to be a complete junk and just add to the films and music knowledge, but it should be a healthy mix of entertainment and education. I hope it’s not a replica of Doordarshan in the sixties with nuclear deal news being the most entertaining part!” Hope someone’s taking all the notes. Including a chapter on where all and what all it can be used for apart from educating and entertaining. We can use it for election campaigning, what about announcements, don’t forget department-to-department interaction and wouldn’t colleges be interconnected? That just multiplies the uses. For the name itself, suggestions galore. Ankita Sehgal, from School of Communication Studies, has quite a list, “Just the other day, we were discussing in the class about what should the name be. It should certainly have the name PU in it and something catchy, bold and at the same time it should be meaningful.” That’s not it, the girl wants, “All we want is, for it to come soon. The sooner the better.” Patience student’s patience! manpriya@tribunemail.com Tune in
Moreover we involve children in all this and whenever any VIP comes we take them to radio station to interact with students,” says Yogeshwar Singh, head of the mathematics department, Vivek High School. As for the jockeying, it’s handled by healthy mix of students and professionals. More of community thing or FM inspired? He adds, “It’s educative in content but we keep playing pep tunes in between.”
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Campus calling
Would it be wise to include a deemed university among city colleges column? Well, leaving PEC out wasn’t an option either. So should one expect to bump into a specy crowd, with large tomes tucked in, probably holding a drawing pencil? Every college has a lingo, a jargon mysterious to outsiders. What’s theirs? No substitute for exploring.
College speak
Even among the vast spaces and large buildings it’s impossible to miss out the one that houses director’s office. Got to take his take. So what does he have to say about the PEC tag? “The Punjab Engineering College environment produces leaders of tomorrow” is the one-liner that Prof. Manoj Datta, the director, throws at you. Is that it? “I think that’s crisp enough.” Welcome to the ‘first professional institute’ of Chandigarh. The Mecca of non-medical students, at least in the region. Crowd puller
The crowd? Well, don’t be surprised to find a guy in a tie walking with a girl in capris in the same group. Saurav Rathi, fourth year student, informs, “The reason why you find us dressed in formals is because we have a company coming to recruit us and the interviews are on.” What’s more? There was even a girl in dungarees. Like everywhere else tees, jeans and the floaters look rules. Holding a helmet and a backpack appeared the uniform. And no, the geeks and nerds were a decimal minority! Canteen connect
There’s an audi parking (adjoining the auditorium) and there’s a meta parking (after the metallurgy department or building) and there’s one more parking (couldn’t find the name). A few informed; there’s a popular cafeteria but since that’s under construction there are umpteen places to hang around. “PEC market is generally crowded, Verka booth is a hot favourite and the parking areas is where you find the maximum students hanging out,” shares Nitin Joshi, electrical engineering student. On a tree near the canteen adjoining the Verka booth, a notice and extra-curricular spirit spills onto, ‘Workshop on AutoCad on…’ Skip the classrooms, then the labs, even the library. Corridors are enough to establish, we’re essentially extra-curricular environment. “We have at least nine official clubs related to music, drama, environment etc. Unofficially, I myself don’t know how much the digit runs into,” shares Neha Khosla, fourth year, electronic engineering student. She adds, “Then we have so many student committees for each and every sphere that are active during shows and functions.” She could also cite the phenomenal PEC fest held at the end of each year as just an example. A handful busy on their laptops, a girl at the library stairs deep into her notes. Meanwhile, Varun, fourth year student representative says, “Tomorrow we are going out of town for sports meet, so we would all be in a hurry and busy.” You get the point. manpriya@tribunemail.com |
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Now that Panjab University and its affiliated colleges will have their own radio station, we ask students one thing they wouldn’t wish to hear on it.
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Social networking site Facebook has launched a slimmed-down version of its site for people with slow or poor Internet connections, and it is currently available only in India and the US. Facebook’s Lite site, which will be faster and simpler because it offers fewer services than the main site, had initially been meant to support users in developing countries, where bandwidth constraints make the current version too slow to use. The company said around 70 percent of its more than 250 million users were from outside America, with countries in Southeast Asia and Europe seeing a massive increase in growth where fast Internet connections are more common. News about Facebook testing the Lite site first leaked out in August, with its options said to be limited to letting users write on their wall, post photos and videos, view events and browse other people’s profiles. “It appears, at a quick glance, to be a better site for Facebook newbies or for anyone who finds the current site overwhelming and noisy,” the BBC quoted Rafe Needleman at technology website Cnet as saying. “The new layout feels almost Twitter-like,” he said. Terence O’Brien at Switched.com gave the slimmed-down version of what he called “ol’ blue” the thumbs-up because it “strips away distractions”. “The simple site loads noticeably faster, is easier to navigate, and is much easier on the eyes thanks to the lack of people sending you ‘virtual booze’ or asking you to join their ‘vampire fraternity’,” he said. “The new layout seems like a direct challenge to Twitter, which can attribute much of its success to is simplicity and portability,” he stated. Many industry watchers said they believed that even users with good Internet connections might well flock to Facebook Lite because of its new look and ease of use. “That is what some US users are planning to do,” Eric Eldon of InsideFacebook.com said. Eldon also said he believed a “worldwide rollout doesn’t seem too far away”. Facebook has acknowledged this is a possibility in a statement on the site, which said the firm was “working on translating Lite into other languages”. Anyone who switches to Facebook Lite and does not like it can switch back to the fuller version of the site. —ANI
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Background TV in homes takes a toll on the interactions between parents and young children, according to a new study. In the study, researchers at the University of Massachusetts analysed about 50 kids between the age group of 1-3 years, each of whom was with one parent. Half of the one-hour session, parents and children were in a playroom without TV, while in the other half-hour, parents chose an adult-directed program to watch (such as Jeopardy!). The researchers observed how often parents and children talked with each other, how actively involved the parents were in their children’s play, and whether parents and children responded to each other’s questions and suggestions. Specifically, parents spent about 20 percent less time talking to their children and the quality of the interactions declined, with parents less active, attentive, and responsive to their youngsters. “Although previous research found that background television disrupts young children’s solitary play, this is the first study to demonstrate its impact on the quantity and quality of parent-child interactions,” said the researchers. “Given that high-quality parent-child interaction plays an important role in children’s development, they added.” The study has been published in the journal Child Development. —ANI
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Bakwaas Bytes Heyee…long time, no see? Where were all the honeybees buzzing all this while? I didn’t mean the ones on trees, morons. Fresher’s yes! These ‘silly frillies’, at one such competition no, uff… Wish we could tell you all the backstage observations. What if the judges ask me ‘Who’s the Governor of Timbucktoo?’ Ooops I’m so nervous, I don’t know what to do, what if I didn’t know the answer? What if I stopped in between while speaking? What if…this particular Miss Bundle of Shivering Nerves certainly knew how to blab a lot backstage? Just don’t keep quiet, say whatever you know, it’s important to speak you see they just want to judge your confidence and IQ levels. Did you just hear, don’t keep quiet, say whatever you know. “Never mind they asked on Nuclear Deal, you talk about silk stilettos! ‘They call it beauty competition and have to sift out all the aspiring bimboes. Shouldn’t they rename it brain competition and then could do all the aesthetic judging later,’ suggested a fellow observant, equally tired of the maddening chaos. Yeah, probably, they should. It would be nice to see girls brushing their current affairs since childhood, than applying pink lipstick to bag the crown! —TNS
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Dressed to skill
A collection of 30 garments by city students will find place at the LFW It’s a mere co-incidence. Here we have a theme that so wonderfully explains that change is the law of nature and circle of life moves on and on… when change is actually being felt. Theory is being practically applied, though unintentionally. And that is what Jitender Kumar has also showcased through his collection, Tantra. Based on the Mooldharna Chakras that depict change, using the five basic colours— red, orange, yellow, green and blue, the collection along with other 13 themes designed by the student designers of INIFD will be displayed at the Lakme Fashion Week. “This is for the first time that budding designers from Chandigarh will get an exposure at a national platform. They will showcase their designs at a place where they in fact aim to be someday,” says Aditi Srivastava, vice president, INIFD. Change setting in! Jitender Kumar’s Tantra is more of an eveningwear collection, with silhouettes in clockwise and anti clockwise direction. Also on display will be Hassan Rizvi’s, (a final year student) creation, a saree in net, in intricate hand embroidery. “I used velvet and sequins in different colours to render it a party wear look.” Ritu Maggu’s collection, Nature’s Charm will sure be an attraction at the LFW, with clothes printed and embroidered in peacock colours. The saree designed by her has embroidery of peacock feathers and front designed as beak of the bird. A collection of 30 garments from INIFD students will be displayed at the LFW stall and they have been selected after they fitted in the criteria, which was, “An element of innovation was given priority in a designer’s creations. The theme had to be fresh, something that was definitely not an inspiration from other designer works. Finishing of the garment had to be neat and the quality of the garment used should have matched the standards of the national fashion event like this,” informs Aditi. Not a tough parameter considering the fact that clothes in khadi are also a part of the collection. Done by Pearl Multani, another student designer, the collection has phulkari work on khadi silk. Harman Kaur’s, Red carpet collection is all in colour red and is designed for the red carpet events. The cloth used is velvet and is further given a formal touch with golden print. Besides the contemporary embroidery work, also a part of the collection is dori work, a hundred year old form of embroidery. Manu Wariach, who conceptualised this theme, Roots has a reason behind it, “Dori work has off late not been used by the designers at all. It would give people a chance to wear something different from the usual stuff. A rather important reason is to revive the old hand work.” Hope the effort will count! ashima@tribunemail.com
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Male order
Not too long ago, when one thought of men's accessories, images of thick rings and the occasional chunky bracelet were the only ones that came to mind. These days, men's accessories hold almost all items previously fashioned by women only, and even more.
The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and Van Heusen are set to change the dynamics of the Indian fashion landscape, with the first seriously exclusive fashion week just for men. Van Heusen India Men's Week, held in the Capital recently, featured 15 shows and over 20 exhibitors. It showcased the very best of Indian talent. Designers were invited to cover the widest range of men's fashion - menswear and accessories, under one roof, affording buyers and consumers the widest possible selection of fashion for men. Belt basics Today, men fashion their own style of wearing the right accessories with the right clothes for the right occasion. Though its no secret that today's trend in men's accessories stole many ideas from women's wisdom, this year's variety in colour, shapes and material of men's accessories leaves everyone with plenty of possibilities for men to show off their personal style. Nitin Bal Chauhan , a young fashion designer, also displayed various accessories like always and showed a selection of bags, scarves, ties, wrist bands and cravats . Nitin displayed a daring collection with chains and belts, a look that had streaks of grunge and rebel all over it. This look, he feels, is very suited for today's youth. Styling it with scarves Another trend witnessed in men's accessories are scarves and bags. With winter around the corner, it's no surprise that we witnessed a number of scarves on the runway and also shawls wrapped in interesting permutations and combinations. Also popular are printed silk scarves worn like a tie. Rajesh Pratap Singh had derived inspiration from life around us and innovatively combined the Indian relaxed wear like lungi , gamcha etc and gave it a creative contemporary twist . Simplicity and wearability werein place, like all of Rajesh Prataps creations . Off the ramp, the big trend in men's jewellry this season are oversized wrist watches with colored bands. Other hot jewellery items include beaded necklaces and silver cufflinks. For rings, hot metals are titanium, platinum and sterling silver. It isn't a surprise that hats are again hot men's
accessories. In the public glare Also continuing is the summer's look inspired by the '80s and no surprise that oversized retro sunglasses are again sought after as men's accessories and not only oversized ones, but also in different patterns and colours. Sunglasses are in general more masculine, which means unisex styles are less popular than in recent years. Blue and brown are the most popular colors. Aviators are a big hit again, as well as plastic frames. |
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All work, some play
Productivity is directly proportional to the ambience of a workplace. The new Airtel campus shows us how
Built over an area of 5 acres, the campus incorporates a double height Atrium as well as 70, 000 sq feet of landscape areas with water bodies. With employees spending a major chunk of their lives at offices, filling data, upgrading records, sending mails, it becomes even more important to provide them with the right ambience, which is absolutely stress free.
Adds the project manager, who managed to complete the set up in bang 14 months time following and abiding by the surveys, space and safety guidelines, “The aim was to provide a friendly environment to the employees of Bharti Airtel, and at the same create a landmark that was akin to Chandigarh. In addition to providing facilities like making the campus wi-fi enabled, adequate meeting rooms, we have also ensured that employees are given stress busting facilities too.” Now, if you want to take a break from work, head for the gymnasium that also has steam and sauna bath facility. Pump on iron, flex your muscles, sweat it out and refresh yourself for another round of work. And how can we forget the major ingredient of survival (did someone say perks!) — food. A 130 seater cafeteria, done up in an amoeba effect with cove lights, gives a feel of being in a restaurant. The only difference here you know everyone around. The menu here is decided by food committee (members of Airtel) and they would savour pre-cooked lunch, served hot along with other snacks. Working sounds like fun now! jasmine@tribunemail.com
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On the other hand, we have Anjolie Ela Menon, who painted in her school days, sold them all in no time and evolved as an artist, keeping her feet firmly rooted to the ground. 
This series of arguments and counter-arguments give rise to one more question. If some one finds success even while studying, does it likely to get into one's head, thereby stunting one's growth as an artist? We talk to no other than Anjoilie Ela Menon to bail us out from this one.
Let’s hear from the experienced ones. Vivek High School already boasts of its own community radio with the programming that runs like, “We invite dignitaries from Panjab University and Punjab Engineering College and doctors on a regular basis to give a pep-talk to students. 
No lullaby please!
Full of air
Inspiration!
"With men's jewellery, shoes, belts, bags and sunglasses becoming so big with the new age fashionable man, it's the need for fashion week to promote and popularize this trend. We have designers like Hemant Lecoanet , Rohit Bal, JJ Valaya , Edward Pinto and Arjun Khanna who do fabulous men's accessories," elaborates Umesh Jivnani, renowned fashion journalist and commentator .
Belts are also one of the dominating men's fashion accessories. To accompany this year's contemporary look, belts are not required to be black and brown anymore. We've seen variety of colours on belts. Casual belts are noticed to have smaller buckles and often detailed with engraving and textures. 
From horseshoe desks at newspaper offices to rows of computers placed in a symmetrical linear path, wooden compartments, dull passages, white or blue wall paints at government hubs to even better smart, compact, informal workstations with state-of-the-art technology, bright colours on the walls, glass separations, ample greenery, and leisure area at corporate blocks, offices sure have gone in for a major makeover, both in terms of architecture and ambience. One such office too see all this is the Airtel campus set up at the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park that will operate as the base station for Airtel’s work in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. 
So does the Airtel campus — comfortable workstations offering a feeling of openness, designed in a way that no direct sunlight falls on the building supported by an integrated business management system for safety, spacious meeting rooms named after various music bands like Beatles, Eagles, to training rooms named after different universities, Oxford, Standford, to an absolutely clean cafeteria. Who wouldn’t want to come to this office? According to Sanjeev Kumar Saxena, CEO, Airtel, HPHP, “The Airtel leadership believes in facilitating and initiating activities that help employees manage their health and well-being.”