The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

COURTS

High Court stays mine auction
Our Correspondent

Gurgaon, November 1
The Mines and Geological department had to stop the auction of the mines mid-way yesterday following the direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court last evening.

However, of the 39 mines scheduled to be auctioned yesterday, the proceedings on 29 mines had already been completed by the time the high court order was received by the presiding officer of the auction, said Mr Apoorva Kumar Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon.

The auction of the mines evoked mixed response from bidders. The auction of four mines - Sehsola (South), Nathupur, Ullawas and Sikanderpur Ghosi - were cancelled on technical grounds.

There were no takers for the 13 mines at Gehbar (Plot No. 1), Baded, Gudhola, Bajidpur, Nawali, Kukrola, Gwalior Kansali, Ghagas Khori, Kherli Kalan, Pingwan (Plot No. 1), Pingwan (Plot No. 2), Mahun (Plot No. 1) and Mahun (Plot No. 2).Mr Ram Niwas, Director of Mines and Geology, Government of Haryana, informed mediapersons that of the 29 mines, just 12 mines could be auctioned fetching Rs 7.51 crore.

While the mine at Rozka Gujjar (Plot No 9) received Rs 1 crore against a reserve price of Rs 25 lakh, the mine at Kaderpur got a handsome amount of Rs 77 lakh against the reserve price of Rs 25 lakh.

The mine at Haiderpur Viran, whose reserve price was just Rs 10 lakh, went for Rs 48.25 lakh.

Two mines got somewhat poor response from the bidders.

Having a reserve price of Rs 50 lakh, the mine at Sehsola (North 1) got Rs 51 lakh and Sehsola (North 2) got Rs 1.51 crore against the reserve price of Rs 1.50 crore.

Having reserved for Rs 25 lakh each, the mines of Plot No. 6, Plot No 7 and Plot No 8 at Rozka Gujjar were auctioned for Rs 65.5 lakh, Rs 38.75 lakh and Rs 41 lakh respectively.

The Sehsola mine got Rs 40.70 lakh against Rs 25 lakh reserve price, Gehbar (Plot No 2) Rs 26.5 lakh against Rs 20 lakh, and Bllaka mine Rs 85 lakh against Rs 50 lakh and Chittora mine Rs 26.5 lakh against Rs 25 lakh.

CULTURE

Border bordered on lies: Real-life hero
Rohit Wadhwaney

Former Air Marshal M. S. Bawa

New Delhi, November 1
Was the super-duper Hindi film, Border, the real story of Longewala? Probably, the only truth about the movie was that India won the war, said the real-life hero, who conducted the whole operation.

Former Air Marshal M. S. Bawa, the then Base Commander of Jaisalmer, whose role Jackie Shroff played in the movie, said, “Border was a complete distortion of history. The Army did not even fire one bullet. The thrust of the Pakistani armour was blunted entirely by air attack.”

“They have shown in the movie that 120 men at the Longewala Post stood up to the Pakistani Army for the entire night. The first and foremost thing is that 120 men are a complete company. But there were not more than 25 to 30 men at Longewala and all of them were hiding in the sand dunes, which was the right thing to do in that situation. The handful of men could not have possibly fought such a big enemy, the Army. Had they fired one bullet, they would have revealed their position and none of them would have survived,” Mr Bawa elaborated.

The movie had actually made the people believe that what it had shown was true and it was exactly how it happened at Longewala, but nothing that was shown in the movie happened there, he said.

Narrating the saga at Longewala, Bawa said: “The Indian plan was to go into Pakistan and capture Rahimyaar Khan but little did the Indian Army realise that the enemy had already started a move towards India from Longewala, where only a handful of men were deployed. The rest of the Army was about 100 km away at Bhetawa, planning an attack in Pakistan.

“The Commanding Officer at the Longewala Post, Maj Kuldeep Singh Chand Puri, whose role Sunny Deol played and acclaimed a lot of recognition, sent Lt Dharamvir Singh on the border line, which is about 14 km from the Longewala Post for a routine check. It was dark and Lt Dharamvir could only hear the sound of tanks. He immediately informed Major Chand Puri on the wireless about it. Major Chand Puri contacted his Brigade Commander (General Khambatta) who completely ignored him as they were planning the attack on Pakistan.

“Lt Dharamvir again contacted Major Chand Puri and again Major Chand Puri’s message to his officer was ignored. Onlt when Major Chand Puri started crying on the phone in order to convince his Brigade Commander about the implication of the Pakistani attack did General Khambatta realised the seriousness of the situation. However, he told Major Chand Puri that it was almost impossible to send immediate help as they were too far away.”

General Khambatta tried to contact Air Marshal Bawa but the “enemies had snapped the telephone wires.” Mr Bawa got the message on the wireless which read: “This is Tiger here. I suspect that an armoured column of the enemy is making rapid headway towards Ramgarh. Our post at Longewala has heard noises throughout the night and seen tanks go past it with headlights on towards Ramgarh. These reports could be entirely or partly false or could be the result of armed infiltration by the enemy. I want your boys to investigate it as early as possible.”

Even while the Air Force was being put into action, the situation at Longewala was fast deteriorating. “Enemy tanks carrying infantry elements had placed a ring around the post and had began shelling it. Faced with this concentrated situation and being severely outnumbered and up against an armoured assault, Major Chand Puri could at best convey the magnitude of the threat and clamour for help.”

Air Marshal Bawa advised Major Chand Puri to wait for help from the Air Force at first light. “I could fly at night but who would I hit? I am not going for night flying, I was to hit enemy targets and how could I hit them if I can’t see them. That is why we had to wait for the first light. Till then, Major Chand Puri lied low in his trench – a thin veil of darkness lay separating life from death for all those besieged at this lonely outpost in the dark desert,,” he said.

At the crack of dawn, “two out of the four hunters at the Air Base” left for the kill. “The Hunters came low, scanning the road from Ramgarh. It found the enemy’s T-59 tanks,” he said. The Hunters first hit the ones closest to the post where only a few Indian Army men were waiting for help. And Bang! The first tank, not even 50 metres from Major Chand Puri’s besieged post, was hit.

“But, even as these two aircraft were making their kill, the enemy on the ground was advancing. There were 60 tanks. A few tanks had already reached the helipad situated at the base of the Longewala Post. It was a race against time,” Mr Bawa said.

Later, the Indian side intercepted a Pakistani message. It said: “Dushman ki havai fauj ne nak me dam kar diya hai. Ek havai jahaz jata hai, aur doosra atta hai, aur bees bees minute tak uppar nachta hai. Chalees (40) feesadi fauj aur tank hallak aur tabah ho chuke hain. Aage barna bahut mushkil ho gaya hai. Jaldi havai fauj madad ke liye bhejo, nahin to vapas aana bhi mushkil hai” (The enemy Air Force has been creating havoc — one aircraft leaves and another comes and stays overhead for 20 minutes. About 40 per cent of the troops and tanks have been destroyed. Further advance has become very difficult. Send Air Force for help as soon as possible otherwise even a safe withdrawal would be difficult)..”

Air Marshal Bawa recalled: “That is when I realised that I had hit the enemy hard. It went on for two days — from the morning of December 5 to the mid-night of December 6. Then we got a message that a Pakistani aircraft was coming towards our airbase. It was dark and we could only hear the aircraft at which we fired. Luckily, the Pakistani aircraft, hearing the fire, dropped the bombs just outside the base in the sand and went back..”

There could be no better or more befitting tribute paid to the sands of Jaisalmer, Air Marshal Bawa said.

Later, he contacted General Khambatta and told him to go ahead with his mission to go inside Pakistan and capture Rahimyaar Khan, “which he refused.” “They had developed cold feet. I even told them that I would take them in my plane and prove it that the road is clear. But they wouldn’t go. So our pilots went miles inside Pakistan and destroyed the Sue Gas Plant and a railway junction,” he said.

“No one, not even Lt Dharamvir or anyone else, as shown in the movie had died from the Pakistan Army attack. They are still very much alive,” he said. After the movie was released, Major Chand Puri wrote to Air Marshal Bawa complaining about the “fictitious” nature of the movie, Border, which was “not the real truth.” J. P. Dutta, the director of the movie, met Air Marshal Bawa to hear the ‘real’ story. “When I told him the whole saga and what really happened, he told me that I have destroyed his story like I destroyed the enemy tanks,” Air Marshal Bawa said.

ARTSCAPE
A pleasing potpourri of paintings & sculptures
Rana A Siddiqui

Talukdar’s Serious Women

Talukdar’s Leisurely Twos

Shyamal’s Victims of War

IT was meant for both – people having a fleeting interest in art and sculpture as well as the connoisseur. It was the painting exhibition by Surid Mukhopadhaya, Atul Talukdar, Shyamal Lahiri, Rajesh Sharma and Rajesh Verma at Fresco Gallery, Lalit Kala Academy, last week.

Shyamal Lahiri, a veteran painter who has been painting since 1954, feels the world should be shown as it is. Thus, the harsh realism replaces the wild flights of fantasy in his works of art. Sufferings, especially faced by the tribals or adivasis, take the primary position in his wash paintings, watercolors, acrylic and oils. His predominant shades of yellow, brown and orange bring alive the expressions of anxiety, awe, helplessness and isolation on the face of the tribals.

For example, his ‘Victims of War’ and ‘We too want to live,’ which portray the ever-forlorn community, justly express the community’s perplexed state of mind while demanding its right to live like human beings and its fear when a war or riot breaks out.

Lahiri’s other paintings on landscapes as also on tribal life have won him acclaim in India and abroad. This fragile yet enthusiastic creator, who is still contemplating “lots of ideas, depending on moods at the time of creation”, has one slogan for himself: “I want to remain a student of art rather than becoming a teacher.”

For Rajesh Sharma, the world of dream is a never-ending phase of life. “You will stop working the day you stop dreaming,” says this painter of “different moods,” whose paintings on Dreams, Family Life, Beauty, and Landscapes adorn the charts of ONGC, Onida, hotels and many art galleries. This elected member of Lalit Kala Academy has “forgotten counts of awards he has received.’’

His characters, caught in vibrant shades of green, pink and purple in his family and dream paintings on acrylic and oils, are not easy to find in others. They speak through eyes, be it a waiting sister with her baby brother in arms, or an artist whose penchant for painting never takes a back seat despite growing age (Dreams). Be it film stars like Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, an artists like Bulbul Sharma, or overseas buyers, Sharma’s dreams are most sold and shared.

And for Surid Mukhopadhaya, the “painting is daring.” Daring to do what others avoid for reason of non-acceptance. So, he dares to paint tradition in this age of abstract art and cubism. He does that in Indian classical style -- his drawings on canvas, portraying human life in a state of shock, pain, death, love, joy, agony and purity, have one thing in common – nature.

His realistic works also have a touch of ethnicity and enigma. One might feel lost in his characters’ simplistic expressions which otherwise suggest a pain behind a smiling face. His light strokes of brush, in light shades, create a serene backdrop.

This designer and puppeteer, who was a topper in College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata, in 1962 as a topper, is a winner of several prestigious awards. His works sell for their simplicity and ethnicity.

And, last but not least, the exhibition had Atul Kulkarni, a sculpturist and a painter of life and landscape. His metal work on brass and bronze carry the images of human beings in leisure, love and lessons in learning music.

They speak of timeless beauty squeezed in a piece or two, be it a young boy and girl taking time off in a college garden (Leisurely Twos) or two women in some serious discussion (Serious Woman). Though his metal images are mostly headless (as “details of features in metals is too time-consuming,” confesses Talukdar), they appropriately communicate the message they are carved out for.

Talukdar’s brush is clement and tame. It does not have exhibitionism. The very fact is proved through his somber use of otherwise bright shades of yellow, orange and green. They fall light on head and heart, a perfect company for a pompousless living room.

The winner of Gold Medal, Talukdar’s sculptures have been sold in auction for International Cancer Foundation, New Delhi. America, London, Japan, West Germany and USSR have countless collection of his metal moulds.