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Writers’ Festival in Mussoorie Concludes
Neglect of Everest House worries mountaineers
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DK Sharma best gross winner
Yash, Abhiyukt in tennis tourney finals
Repair on dug-up roads at snail’s pace
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Writers’ Festival in Mussoorie Concludes
Mussoorie, November 4 Director of the festival Stephen Alter in his concluding remark thanked all participants from around the globe for their contributions through books and films read and shown here. He also said the festival should inspire the mountaineers and other invited writers to write more on the subject. He also hoped that the participants would also try to write a book on ‘Mussoorie’ in the entire mountaineering experience as it had been an important gateway to many climbers in the past. Joseph Alter, an anthropologist from Pittsburg University, said the festival had opened his eyes to a number of things about mountains which one could not see otherwise. He said a number of presentations submitted here had revealed sharp contrasts in the material produced here, for example the revelation of nuclear device in the Himalayas that invokes danger as stated by Captain MS Kohli in his lecture ‘Spies of the Himalayas’. Alter further said Mussoorie had become a hub of research work on the Himalayas and he was planning a joint semester for the students from America who would be able to take courses on anthropology, biology etc and use Mussoorie as the base for the expeditions to Harki Doon, the Rajaji National Park and various religious centres so that they could research in detail the effects of environment on the local community and to look for a way to sustainable development. The students will be interacting with the experts on the Himalayas face to face and gain much needed knowledge about the Himalayas. Rupin Dang, the head of a flim production house called Widerness Films India, has the largest global collection of HD Internet and television content on South Asia. He said Mussoorie was situated at the crossroad for the various climbers and authors working on the Himalayas and he was looking forward to visit the place more often to increase his data on mountains in years to come. He also informed the gathering that his team was committed towards the Himalayas and over 15 years had created an archive of around 10,100 clips of films which were available online for all. Bill Aitken, the famous author and resident of Mussoorie, summed it up by saying that for a local author, the festival began with the photograph exhibition on Changtang Ladakh and Rumi Darvish Dance by Rekha Bhardwaj. The festival ended with the genius of Rupin Dang’s presentation on birds and bees.
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Neglect of Everest House worries mountaineers
Mussoorie, November 4 Dharmshaktu said both Mt Everest and Sir George Everest House had one thing in similar and that was garbage accumulation at both sites, which had piled up over the years. He stated this during his visit to Sir George Everest House as part of the fifth Writers' Festival, which concluded here today. Sir George Everest House at Park Estate was set up as a laboratory to conduct the Great Trigonometric Survey of India along the meridian arc from south of India extending north to Nepal, a distance of approximately 2,400 km, by British surveyor General Sir George Everest. He said both Sir George Everest House and Mt Everest needed to be treated more respectfully. Stephen Alter, who accompanied him during the visit, said Sir George Everest House should be given a facelift and a museum be built there, so that people could enjoy a panoramic view of the Himalayas and Doon Valley. Set up in 1833, Everest House is being managed by the Tourism Department. However, it is in a state of neglect for the past several years. Officials in the department said they were trying to restore the entire area and the proposed ropeway from Purkul village to George Everest House would change its look.
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Virasat Day 7: 'Chakravyuh' revives lost glory of Pandava tradition
Dehradun, November 4 Himalayi Naad, a traditional brass band, has been formed for the purpose of performing these plays. 'Pandava Lila', better known as 'Chakravyuh', is enacted in a few villages of the state after Divali. Chakravyuh is a well-known episode of the Mahabharata, wherein Abhimanyu, the son of Arjun, is treacherously killed by the seven Kauravas in a circular battle-formation. The episode evokes primordial tragic pathos among the audience. In 1995, Rural Entrepreneurship for Art and Cultural Heritage (REACH) invited expert theatre artistes and scriptwriters from different villages to draw the performance design of the play and prepare the script. The research conducted over the past 15 years was used to collect folk elements from different variants of the play. Folk tunes suitable to the mood of the episode were also culled from different traditions. “Chakravyuh is a journey that began in 1995 from Gandhari village in Rudraprayag. It was not easy to put together the mammoth cast and introduce the Garhwali script, removing elements of Parsi Theatre and Bollywood. The REACH deserves credit for the fact that Chakravyuh, in its traditional form, has been revived in Garhwal,” said Lokesh Ohri of
the REACH.
The effort towards revitalisation and constructive intervention is hoped to restore the lost glory of the Pandava tradition. Such efforts are bound to encourage folk artistes to present the traditional form of ‘pandvani shaili’ in the villages. “It is surely a great piece of good fortune that the Chakravyuh escaped damage. The performance at Gandhari indeed was a historic event which can be taken up as a starting point to reconstruct our great heritage. We strive to revive this lost art form at Virasat,” said RK Singh, general secretary of the REACH. The second performance of the evening was ‘Anuraaj’, a fusion musical by Navin Gandharva. The performance of Navin and his troupe included mellifluous renditions of Hindustani music with contemporary colours. The fusion of various instruments, including belabahar
and sitar, was was breathtaking.
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Annual sports meet at Doon International School
Dehradun, November 4 School Chairman DS Mann delivered a welcome note, giving an introduction to the chief guest and highlighted the 2012 all-India school rankings. Doon International school has been ranked "Number 1 CBSE school in Uttarakhand" and "Number 2 school among all day schools" in the state. Mann said the school valued co-curricular and extracurricular activities as an integral part of the school curriculum. The event was inaugurated by a performance by the IMA pipeband, which was followed by Surya Namaskar by girls of classes IV and V. Various field displays included a penguin dance by students of Nursery and LKG, patriotic drill on Vande Mataram by UKG and synchronised musical PT by students. Gymnastics, self-defence display and musical yoga by students of classes IV and V were the highlights of the event. All athletic events and races were closely contested. Athletics events included amusing races like jump and eat race, balancing the ball race, slow cycle race, three-legged race, lemon race, sack race and needle and
thread race.
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DK Sharma best gross winner
Dehradun, November 4
Close to pin was G.L.Shah and the longest drive was Vir Srivastav. The Governor said golf tournaments would be held more frequently in the lake city to boost tourism and create golf tourism. He said a golf event for ambassadors, investors and senior officials would be held in Nainital. Among those present were Principal Secretary to the Governor Dr Aziz Qureshi, ADCs Major
P.P.R. Choudhary and Dr.Y.S. Rawat.
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Uttarakhand Police win Youth Cup Cricket tourney
Dehradun, November 4 Batting first after winning the toss, Abhimanyu Cricket Academy, with the help of a brilliant century by Gaurav Gambhir (102 runs), made 214 runs for seven wickets in the stipulated 35 overs. Kunal Chndela also scored 35 runs. Ashish and Dhanraj took two wickets each for the Uttarakhand Police team. In reply, Uttarakhand Police scored 216 runs for nine wickets in 34 overs to win the match by one wicket. Harshwardaan with 64 runs was the top scorer followed by Parishar with 32 runs and Bhuvan Harbola with 29 runs. Sameer Rana, Ravi Negi and Ravinder Rawat took two wickets each for Abhimanyu Cricket Academy. Chief guest on the occasion, Sanjay Gunjial, DIG, Garhwal Range, gave away the prizes.
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Yash, Abhiyukt in tennis tourney finals
Dehradun, November 4 In the semifinals, Abhiyukt Kocchar (Riverdale) beat Manjot Singh (Summer Valley) in a tie break by a score of 9-7 and Yash Panthri (SJA) beat Aryan Windlass (SJA) 4-1. Yash Panthri (SJA) and Abhiyukt Kocchar (Riverdale School) reached the finals. Under- 12 category (Boys): In the quarterfinals, Karan Negi
(Doon Blosoms) beat Ritvik Kothiyal (SJA) 4-2, Sidharth Agarwal (SJA) beat Jai Anand 5-4, Aryaman Shukla (Brightlands) beat Uday Kocchar 4-2. In the semifinals, Aryaman Shukla (Brightlands) beat Sidharth Agarwal (SJA) 5-4. Under- 14 category (Boys): In the quarterfinal, Dhruv Sabharwal (SJA) beat Avivar
(Summer Valley) 4-0, Rohit Kumar (DPS, Haridwar) beat Aryan Khanna (SJA) 5-1,
Rohit Rawat (Doon International) beat Sidharth Agarwal (SJA) 5-3, Ravi Kumar (DPS, Haridwar) beat Aryaman Shukla (Brightlands) 5-1. Under- 18 category (Boys): In the quarterfinals, Shaurya Verma (Shivalik International) beat Rohit Kuma (DPS, Haridwar) in a tie break score 7-4, Manik Dawar (Doom International) beat Arpit Bhalla (Welham Boys) 5-0. Under- 16 category (Girls): In the pre-quarterfinals, Palak
Uppal (CJM) beat Lavyana Singh (CJM) 5-0, Tameena (Welham Girls’ School) beat Riya Khanna (SJA) 5-0, Ashna Agarwal beat Priya 5-0 and
Kriti Arora (SJA) beat Navya 5-3. Under- 19 team event (Boys): Atishay Jain and Dhruv Sabharwal (SJA) beat Manik Dawar and Drona Walia (Doon International School) 3-2. The final matches
will be played on November 5.
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Citizens for Green Doon holds painting exhibition
Dehradun, November 4 The students brought out the perils of deforestation through their paintings and posters. Many spoke about senseless felling of trees in the debate which touched a raw nerve in the audiences. The members of the NGO also addressed students informing them that as to how this organisation, a movement started off as a small group of six strangers, with the desire of saving the environment of Doon Valley grew into a big organisation. They said the organisation was now associated with tree plantations, transplantations, public awareness drives, government interactions, anti-plastic drives, cleanliness campaigns, street paintings, street plays, public interest litigations and a host of other activities.
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Repair on dug-up roads at snail’s pace
Dehradun, November 4 As per the guidelines, the residents of the area where roads were to be dug up had to be taken into confidence but this has not been done by the department. It was alleged that the dug-up roads had not been for months. It was difficult to walk on them, leave alone manoeuvring vehicles on them. For instance, on Circular Road in the Dalanwala area, a couple of old people stumbled on it due to the rough patches and sustained injuries. A complaint by the Dalanwala Resident Welfare Association in this regard too had not helped the matters much. Project Deputy Director Anwar Khan said he would ensure that the guidelines were properly followed by the officers and those who were found defying them would be taken to task. In fact, a number of precautions have been listed in the guidelines regarding the digging process to minimize the inconvenience to the residents. These are sprinkling water over the dug-up road to reduce the dust, but no one is following that. The role of NGOs too have been highlighted to mobilise the people opinion of the area but no NGO played any role. The advisors deputed for almost the purpose on high salaries are also nowhere in sight.
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