IT Chandigarh

Jagriti Yatra

Mohali: It is two days of virtual shut down time for Mohali beginning Monday morning. The “historical” Guru Manyo Granth Jagriti Yatra enters the township on March 3 and will be received by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

<%image(20080304-YPScM.jpg|300|216|)%>
The YPS chowk in Phase VIII, SAS Nagar, that has been decked up for the forthcoming Gurumanyo Granth Jagriti Yatra. — Tribune photo

While thousands are preparing to join the yatra as it moves through the township, city residents who intend to carry on with their routine during the two days are likely to face a host of traffic hurdles. The road from the Amb Sahib light point towards the YPS roundabout will be shut down for all traffic on March 3 from 10.30 am onwards. The traffic would be diverted from the Amb Sahib light point. The road will be made functional only after the yatra moves from the YPS roundabout towards Madanpur roundabout.

“The yatra will go on from the Madanpur roundabout to the Phase IV dividing road to Phase 1, 2 and 4 roundabouts and reach Gurudwara Singh Sabha Phase I. From here it will go on to the Phase 1 barrier, phase VI motor market, truck union, industrial area, Phase V market, Phase 3B2, Phase 7 and reach the Amb Sahib Gurdwara in Phase VIII in the evening,” said Hardeep, SGPC member, Mohali, and convener of the Shatabdi Purab Committee.
(more…)

Chandigarh: Trishna, a play depicting the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, was staged by ‘Roots in Kashmir’ (RIK)-an initiative launched by the Kashmiri youth. The play highlighted the atrocities inflicted upon the minority community.

<%image(20080301-Trishna.jpg|250|160|)%>
Artistes stage a play “Trishna” at Law Auditorium of Punjab University, Chandigarh, on Friday. Tribune photo: Parvesh Chauhan

The play, staged in three parts, depicted the real life incidents of three families that underwent the trauma of terrorism in Kashmir. In the beginning, Rajesh, who was to become a father in two months, was killed by the terrorists leaving behind his pregnant wife Geeta.

The second part highlighted the misery of a father, who suggested his daughters to commit suicide in view of the growing exploitation of women in Kashmir. The last part showcased the plight of a woman crying for help to save her husband’s life who fell prey to the terrorism.
(more…)

Mohali: There is madness in love. So believe the students and teachers of ‘Mad Arts’, a Jaspal Bhatti Film School here. Tomorrow when hordes of boys and girls would be whispering soft nothings, students of the school would be learning how to prefect the expression of love.

“And we are serious about it. Valentine Day would be spent teaching students how to express Love. A special teaching schedule will be adhered to in which the theme of the day will be love and romance only,” said Savita Bhatti, CEO, Mad Arts.

Emphasising the point in his own inimical style, Jaspal Bhatti added, “The ways in which love is expressed has changed so much with passing years. I recall friend who wrote 52 letters to his girl friend each one on a tree leaf. If he were to do this now, he might need the environment ministry’s permission. Even the girl would think that he is an idler with so much time on his hands!”

To add to the Mad Art idea, students would be asked to rehearse delivering romantic dialogues and sing and dance on romantic songs. “Madness in romance will be highlighted,” said Savita Bhatti.
(more…)

Chandigarh: Working for a serial that means ‘the better half’, these two young stars promise a fresh lead in their serials. As Sudeepa Singh and Ajay Krish, leading actors of Zee TV’s ongoing soap ‘Ardhangani’ were in the city today, it was the lure to play something different that brought them in the soap, they said.

Born and brought up in Amritsar, Sudeepa is purely inclined to her cultural Punjabi roots and acting to her happened by chance. “I went for an audition for Zee TV’s antakshari two years back and got selected. After that, there was no looking back and after a stint in a serial by Sony titled ‘Kabhi toh nazar milao’, Ardhangani for Zee finally happened,” she said. Well, participation in college youth festivals from Guru Nanak Dev University had always been her interests and she always came out with flying colours, she added.

For Mumbai based Ajay Krish, acting was the sole motto of his life and he was trained enough for it. His acting stint in an American feature film ‘Dreams’ was screened at Cannes Film festival and he learnt the nuances of acting from New York University.

“It’s a complete mixture of all emotions in the character I play. The person relates closely to every individual’s life,” he said.
(more…)

Chandigarh: Conservators from National Museum, New Delhi, have resurrected 17 contemporary artworks from the collection of Government Museum, Sector 10. Valued at several lakhs in the international market, these originals by masters like Jamini Roy, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Amrita Shergill and Sobha Singh, among others, were in poor condition and in danger of being lost when these were handed over to National Museum experts for restoration.

It took four conservators two years to nurse them back to life. In Chandigarh to complete the formalities, S.P. Singh, director, conservation, National Museum, said 16 works had been returned to the home gallery. Only one work, of Kirpal Singh, a contemporary of Sobha Singh, remained to be restored.

“This is seriously damaged. We are trying to block further loss of sheen,” said S.P. Singh, who met some UT officials.

The works, most of them 100 years old, belong to leading lights of the Indian art world. Each is valued at lakhs, especially the ones from the repertoire of Abanindranath Tagore, father of Bengal School movement which began as nationalist reaction to colonial influences in art.
(more…)

Chandigarh: The Indian Army contingent deployed for peacekeeping in Lebanon has been awarded the United Nations Force Commander’s Unit Citation. The contingent was selected from amongst 30 units from different countries making up the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The citation was awarded to the 15 Punjab Infantry Battalion Group by the UNIFIL Commander, Maj-Gen Claudio Graziano, today for its “outstanding contribution towards maintaining peace and stability in South Lebanon”.

The citation states that in addition to operational tasks, the battalion carried out selfless humanitarian work, thereby endearing itself to the local population and enhancing the image of UNIFIL substantially.

This is the second time in a row that an Indian contingent has been awarded the UNIFIL commander’s citation. 15 Punjab’s predecessor unit, 4 Sikh, was also honoured by the UN, sources at Army Headquarters said.
(more…)

Chandigarh: “The Indian philosophical perceptions and ethics governing ideal human life had been a core line of the thought process of world thinkers since ages,” observed the young visionary author and thinker from Russia Anna Petrovna while interacting with the intellectuals and writers at Punjab Kala Bhavan here today.

In the city on invitation of the Punjab Arts Council, Anna delved deep into the changing trends in the socio-cultural context. The Siberian scholar maintained that after the disintegration of the USSR, the cultural concepts there had experienced substantial changes in every walk of life. Assisted by Harjinder Singh, who spent 13 years in Russia, Anna, with an adroit knowledge of Indian theology and epics, participated in the debate initiated by acclaimed poet Dr Nirmal Dutt, Prof Yog Raj, Dr Surinder Gill, Dr Raman Kant and Dr Prem Singh. Earlier, Rajpal Singh, secretary, General Punjab Arts Council, honoured Anna Petronva.

Later talking to The Tribune, Anna said she had been inclined to the study of the Law of Causality in the life of a modern man and later authored a book titled ‘Ethics and Etiquettes in new time’. The Indian culture endowed with sanctity and religious base had really inspired her especially the synchronisation of ‘karma and dharma’ to seek salvation and peace, she added.

Based on her study, she said Indians were more emotional than westerners and also displayed excessive emotional gestures. The Indian classical arts, especially dances, were a craze the world over, but did not find many takers in India.

Source: TNS

Chandigarh: “Punjabi writings and current literature is like left-over of English and Hindi writings. Unless Punjabi writers bring originality to their work, Punjabi language and literature cannot progress”, said Dr Pritam Singh, renowned academician, who was conferred with honouris causa degree in D.litt by vice-president of India, Dr Hamid Ansari. Talking to the The Tribune, 90 year-old, Dr Pritam Singh, who is the third one to receive the degree after Bhai Veer Singh and Prof Sahib Singh, said, “I am thankful to those who thought my writings were worth the appreciation and conferred upon the degree”.

No resting on his laurels, Dr Pritma, who had more than 50 publications to his credit, including ‘Dr Mohan Singh Dewana’, ‘Sikh Dharam Te Siast’, ‘ Punjab, Punjabi, Punjabiat’, besides others was working on a ten volume ‘ Sikhan Da Chota Mail’ in collaboration with Dr Joginder Singh Ahluwalia based in USA. “We are editing the thousand paged Granth by Bhai Darbari Singh, who was based in Ferozepur,” he said.

Talking about Punjabi language and its growth, he admitted that till the time we did not make colloquial use of the language it couldn’t progress on its own. Lashing out on the governments, he said it was high time for the government to realise its duty of bringing people closer to their roots in Punjab. He added that when Prof Ishwar Judge Ahluwalia ended her speech today with a Punjabi couplet, it drew tremendous response from the crowd by a way of thunderous round of applause.

Source: TNS

CHANDIGARH: Next time there is a wedding in your family, be sure there aren’t more than 25 baraatis and that no one is fed more than two meals. In a move that has prompted passionate debates, the Punjab police has promised in court that it will closely stick to provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act (1961) and monitor proceedings in all marriages, penalizing all violations.

Maintaining that it had sent out a message to all district police chiefs, the department also assured in Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday that it will implement another clause in the Act which bars “shagun”, a symbolic offering that’s considered auspicious, of more than Rs 11.

The Punjab police move came during a hearing on a PIL filed by lawyer HC Arora who had sought directions to government agencies to enforce provisions of the Dowry Act in order to curb femicide in Punjab. “It is mostly the families of girls who bear wedding expenses that run into lakhs of rupees,” he reasoned. “Bigger the wedding ceremonies, bigger the expenses. Most poor parents, due to this, would rather have a male child, leading to female foeticide.”
(more…)