The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

SJOBA teams comb city for treasure
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23
It was a festive mood at St John’s High School, Sector 26, where the ‘SJOBA Treasure Hunt’ elicited a tremendous response from old boys at the second day of the three-day celebrations here today.

With 78 teams participating in the contest, it turned out to be quite an adventure the teams, either headed by a Johnian or the spouse of an old boy, zipped around the city looking for clues.

Spread over 15 locations, the mystery unravelled with the school Principal, Ms P. Cheema, giving the first clue: “Steps of green’’, implying the Terrace Garden. Almost immediately, the team members dashed off to the location looking for the next clue.

The clues were hidden at places as varied as the Terrace Garden, the local golf range, city hotels and restaurants the participants enjoyed every movement of the four-hour combing of the city in search of clues which ultimately led them to the prize money.

Prepared by the organising committee, the clues seemed hard to crack as participants took time to decipher hidden meanings. While one read “Platform for married expression”, which implied the Terrace Garden, another interesting one said, “When you’re happy and high, go dancing in the sky’’ taking the participants rushing to Cloud 9.

The hunt concluded at the school premises with the team of Ankit Juneja and Salil Bindra jointly being declared first, earning a cash award of Rs 5000 each. A number of other prizes were given away by the President of SJOBA, Major NS Sanghwan, after which the participants were treated to lunch.

Last evening, the three-day meet began with the melodies of ghazal singer with Penaz Masani, at “Sham-e-ghazal” organised at St John’s High School.

She aptly began with “Dil ke aaiane mein yadon ki chamak baki hai, meri sanson mein teri mehak baki hai’’, in keeping with the purpose of the evening.

Dressed in delicate lavender, she went on to sing “Dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai”, her favourite ghazal, and Mumtaz Rashid’s “Phool rahon mein khilne lage” as she shifted focus to pop and fusion music later in the evening.

“Meri zindagi hai zalim tere gum se ashikara, tera gam hai dar haqiqat mujhe zindagi se pyara’’ won a tremendous applause from the crowd.

Earlier, speaking to The Tribune about her next album, she said though it had been a while since she came out with a ghazal album, an album of fusion music was in the pipeline and would be released next year.

Having 28 albums to her credit in the past 20 years since her entry into the music world, she said quality singing was a priority with her and that she would not jump on to the bandwagon of doling out three or four albums in a year.

Delayed start, spirited show
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23
As part of the ongoing Christmas festivities Mahatma Jyoti Rao Public School (Panipat) presented a cultural performance at the Rock Garden here today. The event was organised to mark World Peace Day celebrations.

After a delayed start, the programme was announced open with a ‘quawwali’. Organisers then remembered that the chief guest, Padma Shri Nek Chand, had not lit the inaugural lamp.

The mike caused regular discomfort to the announcers. The cultural programme was a decent and colourful presentation. Bhangra by students had the audience clapping along, as did a Rajasthani dance. A highlight of the show was a dance on ‘Vande Mataram’.

Nursery corner inaugurated
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23
A nursery corner of Sri Guru Hargobind Public School, Sector 40-C, was inaugurated by Mr N. S. Gujral, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Punjab and Sind Bank on the school premises yesterday.

A cultural show was organised by students on the occasion. Various items, including giddha, a group song and a Punjabi action song impressed the audience. Mr Gujral later distributed prizes among students who had excelled in academic and other fields.

Payal breathes life into kuchipudi rhythms
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23
Payal Ramchandani, a young dancer, featured in the kuchipudi performance at the Pracheen Kala Kendra here today.

Payal, a disciple of the renowned dance couple Raja and Radha Reddy, featured at the show organised in collaboration with the Air Hostess Academy, New Delhi.

The show began with a customary prayer to Lord Ganesha — ‘Vinayaka stuti’ in ‘raaga Gaula’. The next piece was ‘Taraana’ on ‘raaga Natabhairavi. The music was taken from the original composition of sitar maestro Ravi Shanker. The dancer here is depicted as a sculpture which comes alive and dances till it freezes in the end.

‘Kalinga Nartanam’ in ‘raaga Malika’ showed the compassionate Lord descending on earth from time to time to protect his devotees in different ‘avtaars’. The portrayal was that of Lord Krishna who came to end the evil designs of serpent Kali’.

‘Madhurashtakam’ in ‘raaga Behag’ depicted the childhood pranks of Lord Krishna. The next performance was in praise of Goddess Parvati.

Payal’s guru Padmabhushan Raja Reddy was on the ‘natvangam’ while Sai Bhawani was the lead vocalist. B. Bhaskar Rao accompanied the group on the ‘mridangam’ and Annadurai on violin. Jyoti Krishnamurty was the compere while Radhey Shyam was the costume designer.