The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Little feet walk down the ramp
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 16
A dazzling display of dance and drama marked the annual function celebration of Aanchal Preparatory School at Tagore Theatre, here today, as tiny tots put up a colourful show at a foot tapping music.

Beginning with chants from the Vedas and Upanishads followed by an invocation to Goddess Saraswati, the children, dressed in colourful clothes, presented a qawwali, appealing against burdening them with ever-increasing expectations.

Punjabi culture came alive as students of UKG staged the ceremonial bidai of the bride in a well presented ballet. Enacting nursery rhymes like “Jungle mein ek sher” and “Billy woolly was a worm”, the children of pre-nursery, dressed as lions, bears, elephants and fairies won a big round of applause from the parents.

A fashion show by the tiny tots of LKG was an entertainer all the way. Among other items were folk dances and action songs presented by students of the Chandigarh and SAS Nagar branches of the school.

A spectacular drill and karate show by students as well as breaking of marble slabs by a team comprising Tanmay, Vishwaprem, Aman and Harsimran was a thorough entertainer.

The programme was inaugurated by Mr Brahmjit Kalia, District Education Officer, while Pandit Ramnik Lal Sharma, secretary of Sanatan Dharam Sabha, was the guest of honour. The principal, Ms Sood, in her speech, stressed the need for fostering attitudes of leadership and excellence.

Students display models at science exhibition
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, December 16
It was a day of fun and frolic for the students and staff of Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41, who put up an art/craft and science exhibition-cum-fete here today.

Students displayed hand-painted pots, glass, fabric and thread paintings, stuff toys and greeting cards.

Among the host of models were lasers, hydraulic lift, recycled paper, magnetic levitations and impacts of bio-technology. Models on anthrax and landmarks in science were the crowd-pullers.

The exhibition was inaugurated by the Editor of a local daily who also gave away prizes to outstanding students, Jaspreet Kaur was adjudged the best debator, while Rohit Bhat and Arun Kalia were given special prizes for poetry. Krity Kamboj and Aman Gupta got trophies for being Head Girl and Head Boys, respectively.

SJOBA plans 3-day meet
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 16
Come December 22 and St John’s Old Boys Association (SJOBA) will be all set to organise events which form part of the pre-winter ball bonhomie. While the dancing shoes will have to be kept in the shelf till December 24, three days proceeding this day will see fun-filled events — a performance by Penaz Masani ...and a treasure hunt for those who look for adventure.

While the music concert is slated for December 22 on the school premises, the treasure hunt, limited to the city, will have clues at 15 locations.

For the party animals, there will, of course, be the crackling winter ball with melody unlimited as DJ, Sunny Sarid, will come in to rock the Johnians for that night while the Rodrigues’ will play for the more serious lot among them.

“Special effects complete with uv lighting and pyro-techniques will add the touch of glamour and surprise to our show. The fireworks display is an addition to this year’s programme,’’ says Mr Ajay Thiara, secretary of SJOBA.

There will also be roving cameras and projection screens.

In keeping with tradition, arrangements to make the 1976 batch, which completes 25 years this season, are in progress. “We have set up a two-member committee to identify as many students of the 1976 batch as they possibly can and extend invitations to them,” he added.

The mega event, is likely to attract nearly 1000 members not only from India but abroad according to an estimate of the organisers.

COURTS

CONSUMER COURTS
Dry cleaner ordered to pay Rs 7,500
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, December 16
The UT Consumer Court has directed Snow White Dry Cleaners to pay a compensation of Rs 7,500 to city resident for damaging her saree.

The complainant, Ms Anjana Dhawan, a resident of Sector-7, stated in the complaint that she had given a saree with blouse for dry-cleaning to Snow White Dry Cleaners, Sector-17-E, on April 16, 1999, and paid Rs 65 as charges for the same. The saree was to be delivered back on April 19, 1999.

The complainant alleged that at the time of delivery she noted that the actual colour of the saree had faded, and zari work had become black.

The complainant pointed it to the shopkeeper who assured her to rectify the same and therefore, the complainant returned the saree to the shopkeeper for removing the pointed defects. According to the complainant the quality of the new saree had deteriorated and therefore she asked the dry cleaner to compensate her for the same.

The complainant added that she had purchased the saree for Rs 7,500 which was evident from the bill dated February 16, 1999. The complainant therefore prays that the Snow White Dry Cleaners be directed to compensate her by paying costs of saree along with interest at the rate of 24 per cent on account of harassment and costs of the case.

In its reply, Snow White Dry Cleaners had admitted the introductory facts, but contended that there were some manufacturing defects in the saree and damage was not caused in the process of the dry-cleaning. Shopkeeper also denied that actual colour of the saree had faded or turned black.

According to the Snow White Dry Cleaners, there was no Zari work on the saree rather it was only thread work.

The Consumer Forum said in its order that the forum had compared colour of the saree with that of the blouse and had found that the original colour of the saree had faded after dry-cleaning. The Consumer Forum held Snow White Dry Cleaners guilty of deficiency in service and direct it to pay Rs 7,500 to the complainant towards the cost of the saree, besides Rs 550 towards the cost of case.

CULTURE

Adapting Tagore's ‘Homecoming’ for kids
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 16
They are a bunch of 20, all impetuous as the waves of ocean. As they move about impatiently on the stage of Kalagram’s open air theatre, they try hard to build concentration. Ten minutes of theatre games with Akhilesh Khanna and they are a changed lot — busy listening, observing and improvising a legendary short story by Rabindra Nath Tagore.

Theatre is the only medium that can hold them hard, hard enough to help them channelise energy and concentrate...sometimes on the script and sometimes on the beautiful music.

But more than theatre it is this theatre man’s expertise which is coming in handy for children at Kalagram, where a 20-day children’s theatre workshop is in progress.

In town on an invitation from the North Zone Cultural Centre(NZCC) to hold this workshop, the National School of Drama’s Akhilesh Khanna is busy adapting a pure Bangla script of Tagore's ‘Homecoming’ into Punjabi and Hindi.

The name of this man holds importance in the field of theatre. He won the best actor award of Sahit Kala Parishad for two consecutive years in 1986 and 1987. With a working history of over 20 years and about 200 lead roles in significant productions to back him, one does not wonder over the ease with which Akhilesh helps kids open up and let go. ‘‘Children are pure. They have not yet been set into moulds. It is wonderfully exciting to work with them because their imagination is limitless. They can convert the stage into earth or sky or even ocean, if they so wish. From the day in 1981 when I conducted my first workshop with children till this day, I have learnt many nuances of stage craft from them. They teach you a great deal,’’ said Akhilesh.

Presently a freelancer, Akhilesh Khanna is busy working on a prestigious project of the NSD. Entitled, ‘Samundra Manthan’, the theatre project is being conceived and directed by Akhilesh. ‘‘It is a contemporary analysis of an age-old mythological sequence which features in the Ramayana. The plot will be based on an infighting between two groups. It shows how average citizens suffer in the war of factions,’’ he informed.

As for Akhilesh’s mettle, it can be gauged from the fact that Manoj Bajpai has been his student. Among his contemporaries are Virendra Saxena, Rajinder Gupta and Devendra Raj Ankur. Khanna is quite in awe of Devendra Raj Ankur, the present director of the NSD. He said, ‘‘I love working for Devendra. He is technically very sound. Only recently he combined four legendary short stories into one production. One of these stories is ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’ which required close to thousand cast members in the film. But Devendra has juxtaposed four stories and produced one with the help of just two actors — myself and Surendra Sharma,’’. The first show of this production was done at NSD’s Bharat Mahotsava in Delhi this year.

Coming back to children’s theatre, Khanna talked of how challenging the field is. ‘‘The director requires great observation. He should be able to adapt himself instantly as per stage requirements,’’.

With city kids, Akhilesh is working on Tagore’s ‘Homecoming’. The story has been lent a Punjabi tinge for convenience of children of this region. Said Akhilesh,‘‘In the original story, the boy’s name is Phatik Chakraborty. We have changed the name to Jeeta. I have used many theatre games like killer game, snake crawling etc to help children shed their inhibitions. I am also assisted in this project by Veena, who is currently posted at the Bangalore centre of NSD,’’.

Music of the play has also been done by Akhilesh himself. The final play will be staged around December 24.

A bit of reality, a bit of melodrama
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, December 16
Narinder Thakur, a self-taught artist from the city, is a firm believer of the right kind of blend between reality and little bit of melodrama, a combination he generously used in the paintings he displayed at IndusInd Art Gallery in Sector 8 here today.

Using oil, acrylic and water and a host of unconventional objects like a piece of cloth or a plank of wood, the artist has given a touch of drama to his creations like “The Black Beauty”, “Mother and Child” and others. Most of his paintings go unnamed as the artist does not want to put the audiences’ imaginations into some kind of framework.

Narinder, a firm believer of evolution of mankind through stages of different cycles, captured the urge of the present generation to seek refuge in the innocence of the stone age with a few of his paintings — “Jungle Life”, “Tribal Life” — and the painting on stone curved figures.

Where technically the artist fairs in an average scale, it is his keen sense of observation that gets reflected in his art that makes them special”. “An artist is a combination of a psychologist, a philosopher, a poet and a sentimental human being,” says Narinder. His two sketches, one of a beautiful woman and another of an old man, were eye-catching.

Narinder, who has already curved a niche for himself as a well-known artist, has done a number of paintings, sculptures and murals for many prominent hotels and government buildings in the city. This particular exhibition is his second solo exhibition in Chandigarh.

Narinder who awes his success to his father, the late Laxman Das Thakur, a prominent artist of the city in the 60s is working on his next project based on human cycle from the stone age to the cloning age, which will be completed soon. His current exhibition in IndusInd will continue till December 19.