This year’s theme: My Nation, My Responsibility

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 24

The four-day Panjab University Youth and Heritage Festival for Zone-A started at Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, today. 

Students from around 13 colleges, including Arya College, Gobindgarh Public College, Alour, Arya College, Panjab University Regional College, SCD Government College, SCD Evening College, Kamla Lohtia College, Atam Vallabh Jain College, Aurobindo College of Commerce, Malwa College, Samrala, BSSG Government College Sidhsar, Government college, Karamsar (Rara Sahib) along with students from the host college are participating in the festival.

Nirmal Jaura, Director Youth Affairs at Panjab University, said the theme of the youth festival this year is ‘My Nation, My Responsibility’. 

On the first day, competitions in events, including group shabad/ bhajan group singing, classical music (vocal), light geet ghazal and folk song were held. 

Poetry writing, short-story writing and essay writing contests were also held. The theme for poetry was ‘intolerance’, for essay, it was ‘nationalism’, in line with the theme of the youth festival this year. 

Heritage events such as guddian patole making, paranda making, chhikku making, naala making, tokri making, mitti de khidaune making, khiddo making, peerhi making, rassa vattna, eenu making were also conducted. 

During the day earlier, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Harinder Singh Khalsa, who was the chief guest, announced a grant of Rs 15 lakh for the college. 

Jaura said this year the prize winners would be announced after the events, instead of announcing them all together later on. “This year, it is different as the prizes to winners are not being given all together in the evening, but whenever the results are being made, these are being given away to students, to keep them excited,” Jaura said. 

He said different persons associated with music and culture including music director Kuljeet, folk singer Hardeep Gill and lyricist Gill Surjeet were the judges for events including music and shabads. Kirpal Kazak is the judge for heritage crafts, he said. 

Eco-friendly glimpses in heritage crafts on Day 1

Ludhiana: While making the heritage craft items during the Panjab University Zonal Youth Festival at Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, students utilised things of everyday use.  Some participants said it was time such things were modernised and brought back to use in place of increasing use of plastic and other materials, which are only ending up in piling up waste and becoming part of growing environment hazard.  “There is a great deal that we can learn from our own heritage to make our living and our planet eco-friendly and safe,” said one of the participant making heritage crafts. 

Students made ‘tokra’, a basket made of tree branches; guddian patole, toys made from waste clothes; khiddo, a ball made of waste cloth shreds; rassa, rope and mitti de khidaune, clay toys. Jagpreet Singh, a student of AS College Khanna, said he was enjoying tying and weaving tree branches together for making a ‘tokra’. Another student said the basket would not put any burden on the environment after it is disposed of. “There are ways to alter the design of these baskets in some ways, which hold a lot of value. These are a fantastic alternative to plastic baskets and can be of great utility,” he said. Pointing to a dustbin in the college, he said instead of plastic dustbins, dustbins made of similar materials should be tied to trees. Such baskets of different shapes can be used anywhere, he said. 

When asked, students said chikku could still be an eco-friendly alternative to casseroles and expensive tiffins. Chikku is made by creatively tying wool around long-grass blades, and then tying it together, which keeps heat from dissipating. “It is such a beautiful product, which is attractive but also has a great utilitarian value. Making chikku takes certain skill, but is eco-friendly and available at less cost,” said one of the students. Amarinder Kaur, a student who was making it, said one can make it from different colours and patterns as one wants. Sukhjeet, another student, said it was time, students, who have learnt to make these heritage crafts, use more creativity and start gifting and using such items every day. “If they can bring some innovation, they can start selling these items, which can lead to entrepreneurial opportunity in such eco-friendly items,” he said. — Gurvinder Singh