'No one has come with folded hands'
First timers ready to elect leaders
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 30 — While some first-time voters see their right to exercise franchise as a lesson in responsibility and maturity, others are critical and blame the frequency of elections for their cynicism.

Twenty-year old Manpreet Singh, managing a factory at Mohali, says, "It is a great feeling to be voting. Finally, I will be part of the process I have been only reading about. I used to envy my parents, but thanks to the unstable governments, my chance to vote has come much before I expected it to. Now, I too have a say in making the government and being a part of the world's largest democracy.''

Nidhi Sharma, a post-graduate, remarks, "It feels good to know that my vote can make or mar the future of a candidate. In fact, me and my friends have it all planned out for the election day and have even decided upon the 'right choice'. We will go to the polling booth together and after casting our vote, will hang out at the venue to experience what elections are all about.''

However, she is disappointed on one account — none of the politicians have come to her with folded hands asking her to cast her valuable vote in their favour. "My ideas of campaigning were based on reel life where politicians go from door to door, with the entourage raising slogans. This hasn't happened and I am beginning to feel a little less important,'' she rues.

To contribute his mite to a healthy democracy, Saurabh Bhandari, an engineering student, affirms that he will go to vote. He contends, "The youth must come forward and participate in the elections. Though the political scenario is nothing we can rave about, we owe it to our country and democracy to come forward and vote. Though I was very reluctant to get my card made in the first place, I am happy I did so and encouraged my friends for the same. It has made me more involved in the election process and indifference has ceased to exist.''

Vijay, a graduate, is very eager to go to vote to bring in his candidate. He explains, "I did not know elections could be so much fun when I became eligible to vote. Now, I can rattle out any number of slogans of any party. I have religiously attended all rallies held in the city and judiciously decided the best candidate. It couldn't get any better for me, especially since my friends have started looking up to me as the last word on politics and issues.''

"This responsibility of electing a candidate out of the many in the fray is no longer difficult to shoulder since one politician is as bad as the other if not worse. Moreover, if a candidate of my choice does not make it this time, he bound to wrest power in the elections which follow soon after. This is the bane of coalition politics which has led to disillusionment. Then, my vote does not serve the purpose of providing a stable government. So, why make such a noise about something which is only a drop in the ocean,'' Ravi Kaushal, a final year student of B. Com, opines.

Doing her MBA, Priya Bains, is disgusted with elections and anything to do with them. "It was a novelty to vote during the days of stable governments and as a youngster, I would look forward to elections even though I could not vote. Now, when I am eligible, there is no fun involved in voting because you are certain of another election on the horizon just as the dust begins to settle over the previous one. The charm of casting my vote and knowing it will make a difference has completely worn off and the very thought of exercising my franchise is enough to put me off.''

Bus stand complex in a shambles
From Our Correspondent

DERA BASSI, Aug 30 — The building of the local bus stand has been neglected for the past 30 years.Built in February 1970, the building has eight shops,besides a waiting room and a public toilet. The waiting room has virtually become a hideout of miscreants and "boozers", which affects the business of the shops located in the complex.Stray animals can also be seen around.

The condition of the waiting room is pitiable. The walls are full of moss. Heaps of sand, gravel and brick pieces lie on the floor and the plaster of the walls has peeled off at many places.water has accumulated all around the place and made the waiting room unworthy of use by passengers.

Not many buses stop at this bus stand. About four local buses start from here.Long-route buses pick up passengers from the entrance of the bus stand on the national highway without entering it.This often results in traffic hazard on the highway.

Mr Amrit Pal Singh,contractor of the building,complained that with the buses not entering the bus stand, their business had been adversely affected as commuters prefer to wait for the buses on the main road.

Mr Rakesh Kumar, a shopkeeper, said there was a stinking and foul smell emitted by heaps of garbage lying in the complex.

"After giving the complex on contract to shopkeepers, the municipality had not cared to pay attention to our problems," said one of the shopkeepers.

Mr J.K. Sharma, Executive Officer, said the municipality had deployed a Home Guard to direct the buses in the bus stand. The authorities had put a fee of Rs 2 per bus as entry fee to the bus stand but the scheme failed as drivers stopped entering the bus stand.

The construction material and other garbage lying in the waiting room was due to the negligence of the contractor, who had been given the work of surface plastering. All such material would be removed soon , he said.

Strongly rooted to tradition
By Sonoo Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 30 — "I am not a torch-bearer for the fusion between the East and the West or between the classical and modern. I happen to be strongly rooted in my traditions and would certainly like to be identified as a classical vocalist", said the "eclectic" singer Shubha Mudgal, who is today as identifiable with 'thumri' and 'dadra', as she is with 'Ab Key Sawan', which has strains of our very own folk music along with the South American Samba. In the city today to deliver a lecture on 'Crossing Boundaries From Gharana to Fusion', this latest diva of pop, in an exclusive interview to the TNS, spoke about her experiments with her voice, her interests in computers and her forays into the world of popular music.

Talking about the need to do pop albums, 'Ali Morey Angana', 'Ab Key Sawan' and the recently released 'Pyar Key Geet', Shubha said: "I always had a natural curiosity to see whether my voice could be tuned to the various forms of music. Also, aesthetically and creatively I felt the need to do these albums, because I sing with a sense of conviction". And discrediting her experiments with various genres of music as being pioneer or even trying to bridge the gap between classical and pop she said: "I happen to be just a pip-squeak in that sense. Look at the kind of work that Pandit Ravi Shankar or Ustad Zakir Husain have done in this field. I am still a student of music. For me it is simply exciting to see whether my voice, with its limitations, can adapt to a particular style".

Maintaining that she uses her music as a language to reach across, since music she feels says beyond words, Shubha said: "I am not into persona building, because I believe that music will say something to whoever is willing to listen to it".

About her appearance in video albums, this disciple of Pandit Kumar Gandharva, said that her complete involvement finished once the music of an album was complete and added: "Whether I have to appear in a video or the cover of an album is all left for the music company to decide for promotional value".

She also expressed her ease and fluency with classical singing and added: "I am still not used to singing with a band, and even my singing in a recording situation has been an experience of a kind for me".

Shubha Mudgal started off as a disciple of Pandit Ram Ashraye Jha of Allahabad, and after shifting to Delhi she was under the tutelage of Pandit Vinay Chandra Moudgilya, Pandit Vasant Thakare and Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki. Her training in thumri and dadra was under Smt Naina Devi.

On her mentor, Pandit Kumar Gandharva, Shubha talked passionately about his style of presentation and said: "Listening to him I was always amazed at the manner in which classical music could be presented. His concerts were showcases of the power of music. Panditji is immortal, because there can be no glorification of a singer like him".

Turning to the subject of computers, an area of interest which she got hooked to "courtesy my young son", Shubha talked about audio-CDs for music appreciation and working in the field of software to communicate to people in an informal situation. The reason why her website on music came into existence two years back? "There was a core group of three people, which included me, which had the idea of having an interactive website related to music. It is not my website, because it doe not have my biodata or my concert schedules. The site is only for those who want to ask the most elementary questions on music to those who want to hold a discussion on something like solo-performances of harmonium players", she answered.

As a singer who has made her name in the khayal gayaki and nirgun sangeet (music lovers in the city would recall her rendition of bhakti sangeet last year, along with a presentation of the works of painter Haku Shah), Shubha Mudgal obviously had her last word when she said: "I am committed to khayal and thumri as much as I am receptive to all forms of music".

‘Gharana a music ideology’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 30 — Classical singer Shubha Mudgal delivered a lecture on 'Crossing Boundaries from Gharana to Fusion' at English Auditorium, Panjab University, here today.

"It is a myth that the Indian classical music has not changed. It is a living tradition," she said. Stating that the idea of making music was to put together all influences, experiences and beliefs, she said it always baffled her when people asked why she had started doing popular music.

"A 'gharana' refers to a certain school or a style of music and to me a gharana is a music ideology. The word fusion is deemed populist and cross-cultural and that is where the problem arises," she explained.

About her 'Ab Key Sawan' album, Shubha said, "I am quite 'badnaam' for having done that album. But while knowing that rules form an important part of music and tradition, I also maintain that finally, music transcends all rules."

She rendered 'Sawan Jhar Lagey na Dhirey Dhirey', which she sang in two styles of Hindustani classical music. She stated that she did not conform to any of the labels that the media had given her.

She added, "My experience says that as a musician, I cannot look down on any form of music. Why put me in a comppartment? In fact, the media needs to share responsibility towards art and culture along with us. How much space is given to popular music and how much to the classical singers? On top of it, if there is a little column about classical singing, the space is shared by cookery, beauty tips or a column on pets."

Throughout her lecture Shubha maintained that the purity of classical forms would never be in danger by any of the experiments being done by her or any other singer. When the audience queried about Hindustani and Carnatic music 'jugalbandis', she said she was not a great admirer of this fusion because "on very few occasions have I come across such a 'jugalbandi' developing into a dialogue or into a third language".

Though not here to perform, the audience asked her to sing. She sang the classical number 'Ab key sawan ghar aaja Bidesiya'. The students among the audience demanded its original version. She rendered her foot-tapping version of the song.

Know your candidates — V

Ms Bimla Sapna (Bahujan Samaj Party - Ambedkar)

AFOLK singer and actress, this 39-year-old President of the local unit of Bahujan Samaj Party (Ambedkar) has entered the contest for the second time. After joining politics in 1998, she straightway jumped into the poll fray and finished fifth among 18 candidates in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Committed to working for the weaker sections of society in general and Dalits, in particular, Ms Sapna has a unique way of electioneering. She started her campaign much before others and prefers talking to her voters face to face rather than going for corner meetings or rallies. It is discrimination against poor in the present system that forced her to join politics.

Making and maintaining Chandigarh as a beautiful city is her main election plank. Better facilities in labour colonies, more employment opportunities for the poor and unemployed and schemes for rehabilitation of jhuggi dwellers are other areas where she says she will focus her attention.

Mr Gurnam Singh Sidhu (Khalsa Conference)

An ex-serviceman, this 56-year-old businessman-turned politician, is perhaps the only candidate who wants Chandigarh to be transferred to Punjab immediately. After seeing action in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars, Mr Sidhu started trading in vehicles.

In 1988 he joined politics and fought parliamentary elections in 1989 from Chandigarh. In 1992, he contested the Rajpura Assembly elections.

A General Secretary in the Khalsa Conference, Mr Sidhu has been associated with various social welfare programmes in the city, including those in rural areas.

He was also associated with the "baptisation" ceremony held in Burail jail on the occasion of the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa.

Besides the immediate transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, Mr Sidhu also advocates for first language status to Punjabi in Chandigarh, extension of lal dora of villages, opposition to demolition of built-up houses and working for the downtrodden and weaker sections of society.

—To be concluded