What an irony! A cricket match between India and Pakistan is expected to draw more crowd than Shahrukh Khan’s padyatra. The crowd waits patiently and tirelessly with malai keema naan, roghan josh food coupons outside a Pakistani food stall, vis-à-vis a Mexican, Thai or Arabian food stall near it. Ladies will have no qualms shelling, rather paying a ransom on an authentic Pakistani salwaar kameez and dupattas. Audience can’t help swaying in trance when Abida Parveen sings Woh Jo Ishq Tha. Yash Chopra mints critical acclaim and moolah by making dimpled Pakistani Zara fall in love with Indian Veer. The entire nation gives a standing ovation to Sunny Deol as he goes on a fearless shooting spree inside the Pakistani territory in Border.

What an irony that we still have a Wagah or Hussainiwala to exchange pleasantries. What an irony! All the same, we have heritage festivals, cultural exchanges, SAFMA (South-Asian Free Media Association), fairs and festivals working at various levels to the bridge the gap that probably needs just a warm touch of the hearts.

So believes Preneet Kaur, minister of state for external affairs, Government of India, who was recently addressed business leaders from India and Pakistan at a session held during the CII-organised Made in Pakistan, an exclusive crafts exhibition from the heart of Pakistan. “The two nations share a close bonding, which is evident at a show like this. The goods that we use are almost similar to what we use here. It holds true for the language, habits and culture,” she says adding that the Heritage Festival like the one in Patiala did pretty well in bringing craftsmen from all over together under one roof. “India cannot be a prosperous, dynamic economy and a stable polity if our neighbours are also not economically prosperous and politically stable. Similarly, our neighbours cannot prosper if India does not do well.”

“The villagers would get a chance to explore and come in contact with different cultures, which is always a good thing,” smiles Preneet Kaur, who falls back on a crossword or a puzzle as stress buster.

And, did we not know how music, dance, ghazals, fairs and festivals could pull crowds from both sides and make them sit under one shaamiyaana? Agrees writer Nirupama Dutt that the cultural ties between the two nations have always been strong. “At one time, people took up the initiative, the civil imitative that facilitated in people to people movement. This is the time when interesting ideas were started like ex-students visiting each other, cultural exchange, World Punjabi Conference. The SAFMA holds an important place as it has all opinion leaders who have a common initiative of bringing out a common newspaper for South Asia.” Nirupama fondly remembers the words of simple peasants when she visits Baba Bulley Shah’s mazzar, “Tunhaadey bina saadiyan pailiyaan suniyan pay gaiyaan.” To which Punjabi singer Lakhwinder Wadali hums, Sarhadain insaano key liye hain. Socho tumney aur mainey kya paya insaan hokey. Music, movies, food and sports can undoubtedly bring the two nations together. Especially because we have so much in common.”

jasmine@tribunemail.com

Doing the year rounder is like how many inches of newspaper columns were devoted to fights, violence, ragging, festivals, fiascos, frolicking, expulsions, …Heck, we’re talking of one winter, one summer, one autumn and one monsoon, two semesters, a dozen months, fifty-two weeks and we’re talking of campus. A lot happened, apart from the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, three sixty five times. Time to roll up the sleeves to recall, reconnoiter and recapitulate.

There was always something or the other on the rolls, if nothing else there were festival galore. Quite many for the first time too. The year began with a bang and there was Praznik, the fiesta by University Institute of Applied Management Sciences and within it was everything that a student festival has and should have. The fever wasn’t restricted to just the departments. The SAUFEST and PU’s very own Rose Fest just a case in point. Those not engulfed by the overwhelming celebrations too had a lot keeping them clued. Did somebody mention the world rules? Helmet compulsion, Students Center vehicle ban, speed breakers. Speed breakers; here we stop. The little bends in the roads that were installed in a hurry, a couple of student protests and removed in a jiffy. There was a lot happening at break neck speed (pun definitely intended). In between there was news doing the rounds of research scholars being allowed to mark the answer sheets. Of course the news came with its own pros and cons, anyways it turned out to be just a report or a rumour and with time seemed to have itself got buried in a thick log of papers! All this in a span of January.

Meanwhile the festivities continued, February hosted Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology’s Cyanide 09. There was marathon, tree plantation drive, turban tying competition, fete, fun and stalls, DJ night with Dj Sanj. While Patchwork, the three-day literary festival by Department of English, offered two back-to-back plays, Medea and Swan Song. There was literally no end to string of student fests. Come March and Chandigarh College of Architecture rolled its own carpet for another three-day extravaganza. Archo 09 too had events like sand art, glass painting, lampshade sketching, salad dressing sandwiched in its itinerary. Not to forget Soch 09, another three-day carnival, media extravaganza by School Of Communication Studies.

Fresher’s theme parties, official and personal farewells, endless reunions, examinations, ragging incidents, hostel problems, Student NGOs, active rock bands, rappers crew; were a routine. Were the Varsity grounds, college campuses buzzing and booming? Around mid-year the announcement, Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal favouring a single school board, doing away with marks, making boards optional had many hooting, a few sulking with either apprehension or envy.

Wasn’t it time by now, for the session to re-open, action to replay? Divider between the Sector 25 and Sector 14 campus may or may not have demarcated the north south campus, it certainly united the students into hunger strike. But before the divider could unite, the ugly election violence at UIET canteen brought a halt to the fun part of democratic exercise. Never mind, Panjab University Campus Students Council got a woman secretary-general and the session continued. Meanwhile celebs came and went. Imtiaz Ali made a fleeting visit, as did Irshad Kamil along with him. Rahul Gandhi and PM’s visit were the marked events in the calendar, making it to the ‘most looked forward to’ moments.

Gain time to keep pace with festivals in the backdrop. SD College-32 became the host for year’s Youth Festival, Soch by School of Communication Studies announced its arrival in a unique way— a la rickshaws, carts. Panjab Engineering College’s PEC Fest almost overlapped, as did their plethora of events including the ultra popular Honey Singh night. The fest concluded and Swine Flu popped its ugly face, making the institute down shutters for a week. And unfortunately, there’s been no looking back. If the flu didn’t postpone the exams, the violence in the neighbouring city did.

Some of the awful events were interspersed with awesome moments. Department of Indian theatre entertained with Punjabi play Ishq Hai and English drama Macbeth.

So much for fitting in quarter to 400 days in quarter to 800 words. Happy New Year!

manpriya@tribunemail.com

It’s time again to take stock of things that had happened this year and when we particularly zero down our attention to visual art, we find reason enough to smile. Art flourished, not just on canvas, but in the market too. When was the last time we heard that some artist had sold his works to the tune of Rs 1 crore in City Beautiful? The unthinkable happened in the month of November when the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi managed to bring Paramjit Singh and his works for the first time in the history of Chandigarh. Even before the artist could put up his works at Punjab Kala Bhavan-16, buyers from Delhi thronged the venue. We were impressed.

Courtesy the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, we have had our fill with who’s who in the art circle. First came Jatin Das to be part of 100th birth centenary celebrations of Dr M S Randhawa, then came Anjoile Ela Menon for the Chandigarh Art and Heritage Festival followed by Alka Pande who released her book ABC of Contemporary Indian Art: Aesthetics, Buying and Collecting, followed by Avtarjit Dhanjal who presented a slide show of his sculptures.

The good news does not stop here. The Art Summit-Delhi saw participation from two city-based artists, namely Diwan Manna and Viren Tanwar. To add to it, Viren’s latest series, a contemporary miniature series, is being exhibited at Vienna Essl Museum in Austria.

Though we cannot complain about the number of painting exhibitions the city galleries offered, we cannot help but feel sad that Art Folio, one of the pioneer galleries of the city, the best perhaps, played no role in promoting art at all. The newly opened Zazen Art Gallery-47 tried to fill the void though, by giving platforms to local artists and conducting seminars, it has still a long way to go to make its presence felt.

But what to complain about art galleries when the major art institution of this region remained headless. After Archana Shastri made a hurried exit sometime in the middle of the year, the Government College of Art-10 is at the mercy of a string of principals-in-charge, most of who remain in the seat for not more than two months.

The college may be in shambles, but its spirit refuses to be cowed down, and it is inculcating that spirit among the students. Sawan, one of its students, is doing the city proud by participating in the talent hunt show called HP Space on Star World. Eight pass-outs of the college who bagged one-year scholarship last year finished their stint, producing a volume of work paving path for 10 new entrants.

Well, that was the artscape-2009— the good, bad and ugly!

Smile and tears

This year gave us a reason to rejoice. The prodigal artist of India, M.F. Husain, was allowed to end his self-imposed exile. Legally.

But then 2009 also snatched one of the nations’s finest artists, Tayeb Mehta.

parbina@tribunemail.com