Haridwar, November 9
The city has donned a festive look for the Haridwar Mahotsava. The first night of the mahotsava saw a wide range of ballet performances by none other than Mussoorie’s famous celluloid and television personality Tom Alter.

Tom Alter and his troupe wowed the audience with their masterpiece ballet performance “Ganga’s journey till the sea” late last night. The performance focused on the state of the holy river.

Written by Tom Alter, it touched the heart of the audience and made them think about the state of the river which we call ‘mother’.

Artiste Sharmila Ganguli gave a dance presentation which revolved around Ganga’s pain that it suffers during its course. The performance also tried to put across the mistakes we commit which end up polluting the holy river.

The performance of the Sanskritik Kendra, Allahabad, added to making the night a memorable one. The rendition of folk songs made the gathering dance to the tunes of the artistes. The most appreciated ones were the Bhojpuri songs that drew whistles while persons from Bhojpuri region joined the chorus.

Students from the local Dev Sanskriti University showcased India’s cultural diversity. They performed a folk dance from Chhattisgarh that gave a message of national integration.

Meanwhile, Tom Alter lashed out at organisers and politicians for not being serious about art and culture and particularly about respecting artistes.

Alter was furious as his troupe was to sing a religious song after the address of the Chief Minister. But as the speeches, which centred around Kumbh, of the Chief Minister and other dignitaries took a long time, the children in Alter’s troupe looked tired.

He complained that art was being neglected and the mahotsva seemed to be a platform for Kumbh-related works and expenditures.

His disgust became evident when the front-row occupants left after the Chief Minister finished his speech and moved away from the dais.

But soon, the real audience, which loves art and makes Haridwar Mahotsava a success, remained grounded. They watched with enthusiasm and applauded the performance of the master. 

Nainital, November 9
Art, which claims to be modern art, has to be for the people. This was the underlying message of an interesting presentation by renowned artist Ashok Bhowmick.

He gave a presentation on the sidelines of the first festival of parallel cinema that had been organised here over the past two days.

Bhowmick’s presentation was accompanied by a slide show in which he used presentations of works of art over centuries to substantiate his point. He took the audience on a journey through time about art.

Starting from artworks from the beginning of civilisation founds in caves and on stones, Bhowmick related, “At that time, the figures were mainly about society as a whole. Individual subjects were not drawn. This conveys that their art considered society as a whole.”

He went on to say that slowly this trend changed. When kingdoms came into existence, works of art started showing gods and goddesses as can be seen in the works coming from Rajputana where pictures showed Radha and Krishna in a large number of works.

According to Bhowmick, this trend again underwent a change with the coming of the Mughals. In this era, the gods were replaced by the pictures of Mughal emperors along with their wazirs or other courtiers.

With the arrival of the British, some artists lampooned the imperial representatives by placing them amid courtiers of the Mughal era.

Bhowmick also explained that the works of art have always reflected the mood and morale of the masses of the times. He said that there was a time when Indians were being colonised and even pictures of ‘Bharat Mata’ drawn by artists do not show her to be that bold.He also dwelt at length on the presentation of Indian womanhood in paintings over the ages.

He used portraits by Ravi Varma to put across his point that while womanhood has been celebrated along with its shyness, there has been an absence of nudity in Indian works unlike the works coming out from Europe at that time.

Bhowmick also explained the impact of the two World Wars on global art and, at the same time, explained how people’s struggles have been presented by various artists over time.

Noted historian Shekhar Pathak said that while lots of works have come out on the two World Wars, there has been a dearth of works on the Partition of the subcontinent that was the most tragic event of the last century. 

Dehradun, November 9
Sometimes the weight of lineage and tradition becomes difficult to bear. In a league of her own Kalapini Komkali has evolved a distinctive style that sets her apart from her gurus and parents Kumar Gandharv and Vasundhara.

An ode to the Indian musical traditions, Komkali’s singing is deeply rooted to that essence of classicism yet continues to chart a new course. Performing today at a musical concert organised at Summer Valley School and MKP PG College under the aegis of SPIC MACAY, she gave enough evidence of her long training and exposure.

“Let me admit that but for my gurus, I would not be here, but there was never a doubt in my mind about my own personal evolution as a practitioner of Indian classical music. It was never a deliberate effort but a natural one,” affirmed the second-generation singer.

Carrying forward the Gwalior Gyaki, her music is imbued with the philosophy of saints and seers who were the finest examples of composite cultures that first took root in Bhopal and Gwalior and then spread to small towns and cities. No wonder then she chose to sing Nirguni Bhajan of Kabir Das composed by her father Guru Kumar Gandharv-“Heerna Samaj Bhooj ban Janna” at the MKP PG College. “The words are simple but have deep meaning, this song is a reflection on Indian life,” she said.

It was followed by another bhajan, “Jamuna kinari mero Gaon” and a “Cheti-ambua ki dari par” that was appreciated by the audience.

The guru in her never rose to the occasion when with a gentle nod of her head she requested vocalist Sanyukta to sing the antara of the bhajan once again, after it got lost in the din of the sound system at during the performance at the college.

“My entire family into teaching music, in fact my nephew too has joined us. There is no end to learning, great singers spent an entire life practicing, it requires dedication and commitment,” she said.

Girish Nalwade on the tabla, Guru Prasad Hegde on the harmonium and Sanyukta Koshalke on the tanpura gave her good company.

She also performed at the Summer Field School, singing the popular bhajan of Mira Bai “Jamuna kinare milo na”. Later in the day she was expected to perform at Mussoorie.

Dehradun, November 9
The first Jan Aushdhi store located at the Doon Hospital became functional today. The store will be selling generic medicines of Rajashtan Drugs and Pharmaceutical Ltd, a government undertaking company.

While inaugurating the store, the Principal Secretary (Health), Dr Keshav Desi Raju, said the medicines sold at the store would be cheaper and also of good quality, providing relief to all sections of society.

Senior officials from Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceutical Ltd said in the beginning, the store would stock 200 medicines. “We will add 300 medicines within a couple of months and also stock surgical equipment in the coming days. These equipment are quite costly,” said VK Chadha, Manager (Marketing), of the company.

Only the medicines such as those used in anti-cancer treatment and anti-retroviral treatment would not be available and others that were kept in the emergency.

Further to make the stores economically viable, the company would have to advertise and bring awareness about their stores. “As our profit share is only 10 per cent, we will have to ensure that at least more and more doctors prescribe generic medicines. The government of Uttarakhand has assured us of full cooperation,” said RK Vashistha, Managing Director of the company.

On November 19, the company will open its second store at Roorkee. 

Dehradun, November 9
Fourth National Forestry Conference began at Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, today.

Inaugurating the conference, Speaker Harbans Kapoor said with the increasing pressure on forests, a challenging role awaited forestry in the days to come. He said while most disadvantaged sections of the society lived in and around the forests, the forestry had close connections with livelihood opportunities.

Kapoor added that there was a need to ensure longer-survival rate for plantation and with the poor planting technique and problems like grazing posed a major challenge before its survival.

He also held that the climate change had brought forestry in focus and there was growing concern globally over climate change. He said with rising temperature and melting of glaciers, conserving environment today stood as matter of urgent importance.

Himachal Pradesh principal chief conservator of forests Vinay Tandon said it was most fortunate that the climate change and forestry had gained political importance and the recent Shimla conference on climate change was trendsetter in this regard.

Lauding the FRI for its contribution to forestry, Tandon said the FRI had always been at forefront for promotion and enrichment of forestry and that was the reason every research linked to forestry began and ended with the FRI.

Earlier, Uttarakhand principal chief conservator of forests Dr RBS Rawat recalled the efforts on part of the state towards conserving its wildlife wealth. FRI director Dr SS Negi welcomed the participants to the three-day conference hoping that the outcome of the deliberations would benefit the forestry the most.

The conference also marks the start of German Alumni Forestry Network’s Symposium on Multipurpose Forestry in Dehradun. Being held in India for the first time, the five-day long symposium is being participated by 27 delegates from as many as 10 countries. 

Dehradun, November 9
The water resource management using space technology continues to high on agenda for Uttarakhand Space Application Centre, Dehradun, even as it’s three-day training programme for those state departments engaged with water concluded yesterday.

Departments like Peyjal, Swajal, Watershed Management, Forest department, Bhagirathi River Development Authority and River Valley Projects and others engaged in water resource planning and management for the state benefited from the programme, which was attended by senior scientists and experts in the fields of water resource management, remote sensing, GIS & GPS.

Director Uttarakhand Space Application Centre Dr MM Kimothi termed training programme a big success.

In his valedictory address, Dr Kimothi explained at length regarding the usefulness of satellite technology, GIS & GPS. He also informed the gathering about the various activities undertaken by the Centre in state perspective with active technical support of ISRO.

He opined that user line departments should adopt a scientific approach in implementation of their programmes so that common man of the state can reapthe benefit.

He said it was a matter of concern that while Uttarakhand was home to many rivers originating from the glaciers of Himalayan ranges, but now many of the state’s villages and towns faced acute water shortages. Dr Kimothi also held that the Centre is due to release state natural resource management atlas and water resource atlas shortly.

Earlier on Thursday, Additional Secretary, Science and technology and Director IT, Uttarakhand Nitesh Jha had inaugurated the training programme. He called upon the departments present, to make full use of technology, resources and data available with Uttarakhand Space Application Centre in their developmental programmes so that they can be implemented in a scientific manner without disturbing the environment.

More than 25 officials from various user line departments participated in the programme. 

Nainital, November 9
The penultimate day of the ongoing Autumn Festival saw singer Raja Hassan taking the audience by storm as he came out with one Bollywood hit after another in his unique style.

Sunday evening saw him coming out with songs sung by various artistes from the film world. He began his presentation with Kailash Kher-hit “Toota toota ek parinda” and went on to sing all-time hits like “Mere angne mein” from the flick of the 80’s “Laawaris”.

The day also saw a large section of the population of Nainital participating in quirky games like needle-and-thread race, spoon and TT ball race, sack race and a race encouraging motorcyclists to drive at their slowest.

These events were organised under the name of ‘Pagal Gymkhana’ and were thoroughly enjoyed by participants and thousands of spectators.

For the first time in Nainital, an exhibition of photographs clicked through mobile phones was also put up. The event got a tremendous response in terms of participation.

Being a Sunday, the programmes on the main stage had started right from the morning and continued till late at night.

The mood for a colourful evening was set by the local rock band ‘Vikshipt’ which presented a range of rock numbers amid a high-pitched instrumental performance.

This was followed by a performance by Mallikarjun Lok Sanskritik Kala Vikas Samiti, Haldwani, whose artistes performed Garhwali and Kumaoni folk songs.

The troupe handed over the stage to another local group Manchanda Film and Development Society, Nainital, that came up with songs and dances from the region.

Dehradun, November 9
To spread awareness about AIDS, the Tasmia Educational Welfare Society organised a seminar here today.

Dr S Farooq, president Tasmia in his speech said people need to be educated and made aware about AIDS. “There is lack of awareness about the disease as such there are misconceptions about the disease,” he said.

Shagufta Mansoor, principal Tasmia, Educational Academy said a healthy mind and body should be the goal of all.

On the occasion blankets were distributed to the poor along with literature on AIDS control.