Chandigarh, July 1
Thousands of students seeking admissions to various colleges in the city will queue up on the first day of counselling tomorrow.

And while students should have their folders containing their original certificates, photographs and fees ready for the big day, the authorities of various colleges have also put their best foot forward to ensure that the hundreds milling into the colleges remain comfortable through the day-long process.

Adequate seating arrangements, drinking water facilities are, however, going to be their biggest challenge. “We are expecting 10,000 students tomorrow. Arrangement for food and water is done,” said Dr S. Marriya, principal, DAV College, 
Sector 10.

Government colleges, too, have been told by the administration to ensure that counselling is easy and unproblematic for the students. Students will be issued tokens and entry to the admission venue would be in batches of 10 candidates from each row at a time. Tents have been erected for the waiting students. The admitted students will deposit fee at the computerised-fee collection counters.

“All requisite information regarding certificates, photographs and amount of fee required has been put up on notice boards in the college,” said Harjinder Kaur, principal, GGS College for Girls, Sector 26.

At MCM College, students will need six photographs. “These are for college records and smart cards,” said Puneet Bedi, principal, MCM DAV College, Sector 36, adding that students should be clear about the subject combinations they intend to take.

While some colleges have also made arrangements for photostat facility and an instant passport-size photograph facility, students are being advised to get attested copies of certificates along with the originals. “Students should reach the college by 9 am so that they get free earlier,” said Shashi Bala, principal, Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector 45.

SGGS College, Sector 26, has procured six machines for fee collection. “Three machines will be used to count the notes at fee collection counters while the other three will be used to check fake notes,” said principal of the college Kuldeep Singh.

In most colleges, students can also expect separate venue for hostel admission formalities and separate counter for hostel fee payment.

Chandigarh, July 1
Guess what is selling like hot cakes today? Summer vacation homework!

With school vacations coming to an end, the race is on to have homework projects ready by tomorrow morning. And it is not the school students who are doing it. It’s now all about parents ‘outsourcing’ holiday homework to shops.

Believe it or not, shops across the city are providing readymade holiday-homework assignments, science projects, charts and models. You name it and they have it, but for a price.

While this defies the utility of the homework, for the harried parents, however, it is the easiest way out. Children have the least to contribute in these assignments.

Sector-29 resident P.K. Sharma “bought” a thermocol train set, which his daughter had to prepare as a holiday assignment. “It costs Rs 250 only,” said Sharma adding that it was made by an unemployed teacher for livelihood.

Some of the top stationery shops in the city are also offering geography models, science assignments, craft assignments. The rates are fixed and with their contacts in schools, these shopkeepers even manage to get the homework list.

A shopkeeper confessed, “We sell about 25 to 30 different projects on science or geography. We have engaged services of some retired lecturers. In fact, they themselves come to us before the vacations start and offer their services. Other than the most common ones like the digestive system, wind current direction model, magnetic field models, types of leaves, we also prepare models on order.”

“A school had asked a class to prepare a Hindi newspaper during the vacations. We have sold at least 10 of these,” said a shopkeeper in Sector 20. Amit Sood, a student of Class IX, had to prepare the model of an eye and this shop provided it for Rs 600.

“I know that it is in no way helping my child, but we hardly have time to help with so much of holiday homework. We have no choice but to purchase these assignments,” said Vinay Ghai, a banker from Mohali.

Some students said costlier the project more marks would they get for it. Students hand over the projects to the concerned teachers who in turn deposit them with the lab attendants to exhibit these. “Last year, I handed over a heater to my teacher and now, the heater is being used for making tea in the staffroom,” said a student.

The schools, too, seem to be concerned only with receiving ‘duly complete’ homework little bothering to know if it had really served the purpose. “The holiday homework is like a burden. Teachers don’t realise that children want to just play during the holidays. It is the parents who are left to complete the homework,” opined another parent adding that he had spent the entire day collecting insects and plants for his son’s assignment.

Chandigarh, July 1
Croatia, the picturesque Mediterranean country with a population of 4.6 million, is set emerge as the next Switzerland for Bollywood, with the evergreen Dev Anand announcing the shooting of his next venture in the country.

The English movie titled "When heartbeats are the same" will go a long way in making Croatia the new Bollywood dream destination.

In fact, over 70,000 Indian tourists visit Switzerland every year largely due to picturisation of Swiss locations in Bollywood and our country will follow suit, Boris Suran, first secretary in the Croatian Embassy, said here today.

Besides Dev Anand, Boney Kapoor, N. Chandra and David Dhawan had evinced keen interest in shooting their films in the country, Naveen Sharma, a trustee of the Millionaires Trust, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of Croatian tourism, said.

Underlining the tourism potential in his country which receives 10 million tourists as against only about 3.5 million in India, Suran claimed that tourism industry’s contribution of 23% to the country’s GDP was testimony to the booming industry.

The Croatian Government will soon come out with special packages for Bollywood producers, Indian entrepreneurs and tourists, he added.

Currently, bilateral trade between India and Croatia is to the tune of $ 80 million and efforts are on increase the volume of trade.

Since Croatia is set to enter the European Union as a full-time member in 2009 and is a gateway to several European countries, there is immense potential to increase the quantum of trade, Suran stated.

Uday K. Chakraborty, travel writer who has recently been awarded the prestigious "Golden Pen" award for print media by the Croatian Tourism Board, along with Richard Quest of the CNN, said the country "with the pristine beauty was the most significant discovery of the recent times".

The world's most beautiful mermaid was actually "built for tourism", the acclaimed writer asserted.

Mumbai-based travel writer Uday K. Chakraborty has done the country proud by winning the Golden Pen Award for his writings on Croatian culture and tourism. Chakraborty was awarded along with Richard Quest of CNN, who won the award in the broadcast category.

Chandigarh, July 1
The felicity of rich Urdu and Sufiana poetry laced with mesmerising vocalism and accentuated by cadence by the great qawwali maestro, Aslam Sabri, brought alive the mysticism of the great Sufi saints at a captivating musical evening at the Moti Ram Arya School auditorium here today.

The programme, organised by the local head office of the State Bank of India to celebrate their annual circle day, got off to a majestic start with Ustad Aslam Sabri spelling magic after taking centre stage with accompanying artists.

Aslam Sabri opened up the concert with an invocatory ‘sajda’, “Mere khawaj bigri bana doh’ in laudation of Lord Khawaja Nizamm-ud-din Aulia. He established an instant rapport with the audience through lucid enunciation of choicest Sufinana phrases in Urdu and Braj, all presented with aristocracy style, he is known for.

Submerged in spiritual fervour, he presented the most popular composition of Amir Khusro: “Chaap tilak sab cheen le moh se naina milay ke”. He moved on to present a qawwali numa ghazal “Gham hai ya khusi hai”.

Later, he doled out his hit composition like “Mohammad ke sehar mein, Kwaja ka karam, Jane ghazal “and devotional bhajan. He won applause for his hit qawwal “Mujhe ishq ho gaya”, recorded for film Parampara.

Ably supported by his disciples Khurshid and Saahdab on vocal support, Yaseem Khan on banjo and Kareem Khan on harmonium, the Ustad spelt magic with words and melody sprouts of sargams.

Earlier, the chief guest, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, co-operation minister, Punjab, and Hemanat Contracter chief general manger honoured seven sports personalities of international eminence. They included D.P. Azad, cricket coach and member of the BCCI, hockey Olympians Trilochan Singh, Harmeet Singh, S.S. Gill, Deepak Thakur, besides N.S. Sodhi and Satinder Sharma, who had brought laurels to the nation.

Earlier, talking to Chandigarh Tribune, the Ustad lamented that the purity of Sufiana poetry had been diluted by western and modern influences.

Chandigarh, July 1
Best known for their character of living life to the hilt, Rajasthanis started coming to Chandigarh in the early 60s. Since then, there has been a steady growth in the size of the community and today, there are about 300 Rajasthani families settled in the tricity.

Members of the community were scattered in the region till the Rajasthan Parishad bonded them together in 1978. Rajendera K. Saboo as its founder president, the parishad aims at promoting and popularising culture of Rajasthan through various social, cultural, educational and traditional activities. It has over 190 members on its rolls, including industrialists, professionals and entrepreneurs. The community also boasts of a formal place for holding cultural events and community get togethers i.e. the Rajasthan Bhavan in Sector 33, which came into existence about two decades ago.

For the community’s youth, there is a ‘Rajasthan Yuva Manch’ in the city which is engaged in all social and cultural activities of the community.

Members of the community get together on many holy occasions, including Holi Milan, Holi Dehan, Haryali Teej, Divali and Dandiya. On all these occasions, community puja is followed by traditional celebrations.

To imbibe cultural values amongst children, the community has its own learning centre - Raj Kala Mandir - under the aegis of the Rajasthan Parishad wherein children learn the nuances of Indian classical, vocal and instrumental music along with folk dances, painting and other literary activities.

Besides, the community holds workshops in art and craft, personality development and theatre for the overall development of the young generation.

Rajasthan is popular the world over for its cuisine and delicacies and perhaps, their best combination is of dal, bati and choorma. Besides, there is an array of food items available.

While most of the Rajasthanis are engaged in some or the other business, many of them have even ventured into services, both in public and private sector in city. Some of the prominent members of the community are Satish Bagrodia, R.K. Saboo, Ramswaroop Chandgothia, D.K. Poddar, and Prof S.K. Rajvanshi besides others.

The community is also engaged in social work under which regular blood donation camps, free medical check-up camps are held and educational scholarships and awards are given for the benefit of society.

Chandigarh, July 1
The Punjab Sahit Akademi organised an interactive programme with well-acclaimed litterateur Sukhchain Singh Bhandari and a seminar on his latest book ‘Thakya Hoya Admi’ at the Punjab Kala Bhavan here today. The programme commenced with an introduction of the writer and his work by secretary general of the Punjab Arts Council Prof Rajpal Singh. Calling him a pride of the Punjabi radio drama genre, Rajpal disclosed that Sukhchain won the best playwright award of All-India Radio four times in succession. Six of his books were awarded with the first prize by the Haryana Sahitya Akademi from time to time.

In a lively discussion that ensued, Punjabi poet Sham Singh opined that the writings of Sukhchain, be it the poetry, short stories or plays, were realistic and reflected the ethos of the common man. Noted linguistic scholar Dr Nahar Singh lauded the technique and imaginative intensity of Sukhchain for structuring the desired ambience of a particular situation with modulation of voice and words. The chief guest, Dr Satish Verma, an acclaimed litterateur and chairperson, department of Punjabi at Punjabi University, appreciated the efforts invested by the litterateur.