Programme for hostlers at GCG-11
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 15
Government College for Girls Sector 11 organised an orientation programme for the hostlers and their parents here today. A large number of parents and guardians attended the programme.

Promila Kaushal, principal of the college, welcomed the parents and students. They were made aware of the rules and regulations of the hostel.

She stressed that the facilities provided to the hostlers are being updated regularly and maintenance and upkeep of hostel campus is the main priority.

She proudly highlighted the achievement of the hostel students in academics, sports and extra curricular activities.

PU Notes
Admission list declared valid

The list of candidates for the NRI/ Industry seats for BA LLB (Hons) five year integrated course, displayed on the official website of the Panjab University on July 14 has been declared valid for admissions.

This decision was taken by the vice-chancellor of PU, R.C. Sobti, after a controversy, leading to five NRI/Industry seats, arose during a counselling session at the Law Auditorium of Panjab University, here on Sunday.

Prof Sobti, when contacted said, “The two candidates whose names were included in the candidature list will be discussed later and the original list displayed on the official website will be taken into account.”

The contenders resented that the list displayed by the Joint Admission Committee (JAC) on the official website of the university yesterday, has been tampered. The chairperson of JAC K.K.

Bhasin disclosed they had found some left out application forms late at night which were later included.

Meanwhile, the general manager of Swaraj Mazda Group, Ashok Verma termed it as an unfair mean.

“The list once declared should not have been changed, come what may,” he said.

Counselling

The counselling for NRI/Industry sponsored seats in B.A.L.L.B(Hons), a five-year integrated course at UILS, Chandigarh and PURC, Ludhiana, was held at the Law Auditorium, PU, here, on Sunday.

According to K.K. Bhasin, chairperson, JAC, CET-2007, the counselling for all seats belonging to NRI/Industry sponsored in B. Pharma/B.Sc.(Hons School) 1st year, will be held tomorrow in Law Auditorium , Panjab University, Chandigarh at 9.00 am. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 15
Nikki Mehndi is every bit Daler Mehndi’s better half. And this she admits with a sense of pride. “I am what I am because of him,” she says, warding off queries about how she got where she got. With one album already to her name, she is all set to go west, just as her husband did after he had set foot on the Indian musical soil. Only, Nikki’s travels are going to be a little tough, as she has been singing only for five years.

But she sounds as if she were born into music, the surname serving as a perfect confidence booster. “I’ve trained with my father-in-law Ajmer Singh, who does a lot of devotional singing. It is a blessing to be part of a family that has done Punjabi music so much proud,” said Nikki, for the first time in Chandigarh today to promote her album “Nakhra Punjaban Da”. She was talking to newspersons at the Chandigarh Press Club, which drew a huge crowd, eager to get up close and personal with yet another "musical" Mehndi.

And Nikki was too happy to oblige. She would start off with a song at the slightest request and flutter her eyelashes almost perfectly. “I am a fatalist. This album had to happen only now. I did not engineer this delay. It was just meant to be,” she said, her composer by her side. For Santokh Singh, who wrote and directed the songs, it was a challenge to launch a Mehndi: “We rehearsed for six months. Nikki worked very hard.” Well, anyone aspiring to be launched despite meager musical knowledge would have to work hard. And Nikki would have to work extra to protect a coveted surname.

“Daler selected Santokh to do the album. Also, it was he who suggested we do a Gujarati song. The album has Punjabi and Hindi songs as well,” said the new singer, whose first album seeks to justify her “west Indian” upbringing. She spent her pre-marriage days in Mumbai, but is now settled in Delhi, where she lives in harmony with her the family, including brother-in-law Mika’s, whose trespasses into Rakhi Sawnt’s life inspired many questions today.

Nikki managed some good answers: “Well, all this happens. But we should not judge people unless we know both sides of the story,” she said, moderating for Mika. And then she was deluged with questions about Daler’s human trafficking case and her own relationship with him. “I don’t want to talk about the case as it is Daler’s own matter. About my relationship with him, all I want to say is that we still live together and happily so."

In fact, the two were together through the recent “Jhoom barabar” controversy. "We have slapped a case on the other side which recorded the song in Daler’s voice first. Later, they changed the singer, without ascribing any reason," said Nikki, who also performed at the Press Club later this evening.

Chandigarh, July 15
The Kidar Adabi Trust organised a seminar to mark the release ceremony of a Punjabi poetry book 'Sochan de Ghund', a collection of ghazals by poet R.S. Faraz, at Punjab Kala Bhavan, here, today.

Chief guest Ramendera Jakhu Sahil, an eminent poet, observed,"Vision, impulse and innate ability to transmute the perceived thoughts in a suitable paradigm of words are the essential merits of a poet and guidance of a mentor is imperative to accomplish it all."

The writer must be his own critic and adorn his creations with perfection, he reiterated.

Prominent bureaucrats and poets A.S. Pooni, N.S. Rattan, Usha R. Sharma and C.R. Moudgil, director, Haryana Sahit Akademi, spoke about the poet and his maiden book.

However, the in-depth analysis and critical appreciation of all 86 ghazals, penned by Faraaz in the book, came from noted literary personalities Joginder Singh Rainkh, Prof Nirmal Dutt, Dr Surinder

Gill, Ulfat Bajwa and others. Adabi Trust chairman Kidar Nath Kidar honoured the poet while poet Sham Singh conducted the programme.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, the author maintained that, endowed with the poetic sensibility, he had been sensitive to the strife, sufferings and tormented psyche of the struggling humanity in all

spheres of life. “Deeply impressed with the poetic elegance of Shiv Batalvi, I had simply ventured to articulate my feelings in my writings, but with a romantic fervour,” said Faraaz quoting a Sahir

Ludhianvi's couplet 'Duniyan ne tazarbaato hawadisah ki shaql mein jo kuchh mujhe diya hai voh lautah rha 
hun mein'.