Jalandhar, December 3
Proving itself true to its meaning, Euphoria, the first Indian rock band, made music aficionados reach those highs as they performed at the Apeejay College of Fine Arts here this evening.

The group regaled the audience, mostly youngsters, as it presented the Indian music with a dash of rock, a pinch of folk, blended with harmony and topped with a whole lot of love.

They began playing songs from their first album “Dhoom”, their second success “Phir Dhoom”, followed by “Bas jaan lo hai pyaar kya, hai yeh hamara mantra”, the title song from album “Mantra”, “Kabhi aana Euphoria gully” and tracks from this year’s hit “Mehfuz”. It was the band’s one of the latest Punjabi numbers, “Sohni”, that actually made the Jalandharites rock.

Here to promote an AIDS awareness drive in a programme organised by the Red Cross Society and Spice Telecom, Euphoria’s lead singer, Palash Sen, said he felt good that he was contributing for some cause. In an interaction held earlier, he mentioned that he was coming up in January with a next album in which he was using the poetry penned by Ricky Tomling, a guy from the North-East, who had just few months to live as he was an AIDS victim.

The third album with the same word, “Dhoom’s Day”, he said would signify celebrating each day rather than thinking about the doomsday. Sen also talked about a promotional video he was busy working on these days for a Hindi film titled “Shootout at Lokhandwala” starring Big B.

“I am also busy with a reality show ‘FameX’ being telecast on Sab TV”, he said.

Ashwini Verma, the guy seen on drums, talked about the journey of “Euphoria”. “It was not that easy to begin with. We have mixed dholak with guitar, but not many people approved of it in the beginning. By and by, we proved ourselves among the masses, mostly youngsters who are just like our music. They mix Hindi with English as they speak, wear fusion dresses and have mixed thoughts and ideas on their minds”, he explained.

The group made everyone laugh as they narrated how the idea of choosing the name of the group “Euphoria” came into their minds.

Hitesh Madaan, the guy playing guitar, said: “Our lead vocalist is a doctor. He was familiar with the medical terms ending with last three letters ‘—ria’ such as diarrhoea and malaria. So, he called the group Euphoria”.

The guys also made a point as they said: “We feel that our videos have been cleaner than many being played now. Since we do not show all that stuff, our videos involve a lot of concentration, creativity and time. The market demand presses us to join them but we are satisfied that we have been successful without adding that kind of a stuff.”

The other members of the band who played were Benjamin Pinto on casio, Prashant Trivedi on tabla, D.J. on base guitar, Rakesh Bharti on dholak.

Jalandhar, December 3
The high temperature for the past few days has damaged the potato crop in this region. Potato growers in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur districts claimed that the loss could be as high as 50 per cent.

A visit to various villages in Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts found that the leaves of potato plants had wilted and it was hit by late blight.

“The loss could be up to 40 to 50 per cent of the total production,” said Mr Jaswinder Singh Sangha, general secretary, Doaba Potato Growers Association. The crop was affected in other areas also.

Mr Sangha claimed that majority of his crop on 350 acres in Jandoo Singha village, near Adampur, had been damaged despite taking several preventive measures.

A farmer from Ughi village in Jalandhar district, Bakshish Singh, said though in this region the affect on crop was less, farmers were panicky over the high temperature.

“The unexpected cloudy daytime will only add to the woes of already debt-ridden farmers,” said Ram Singh, another farmer, who had sowed potato crop on 100 acres.

Dr Daljit Singh, Horticulture Development Officer, Department of Horticulture, Jalandhar, said: “The potato crop is very sensitive to temperature, rainfall and humidity along with photoperiod. So for a good crop sunny days and cool nights are preferred. The optimum temperature for sprouting is 18 to 20°C. The highest tuberisation is obtained when the day temperature is 20°C and night temperature is 14°C.”

He said the Kufri Chandermukhi variety was the worst hit in Hoshiarpur district. He said cloudy conditions promoted blight. He said the farmers who had not taken preventive measures like spray of Indofil M-45 or Kavach six times since the first week of November had been affected.

He said in case of blight the farmers would have to spray Ridomil (500 to 700 gm per 200 litre of water in one acre) or Coperoxy-chloride in order to check the further damage. 

Jalandhar, December 3
Demanding increase in their allowances, members of the Anganwadi Employees Union gheraoed the residence of Mr Mahinder Singh Kaypee, Minister for Social Welfare and Development of Women and Children, here today.

The protesters blocked his gates and staged a dharna in front of his house as they raised slogans against the minister, who was reportedly not at his residence at that time.

They members said they were being paid a minimal allowance of Rs 400 and 200. They said the minister had given them assurances twice recently but to no avail.