Gurdaspur Diary: Karate fever grips Gurdaspur youth

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. This is what coaches teach pupils when they start learning the nuances of karate. In the field of sports, Gurdaspur may not have much to show. That is except for some brilliant individual performances in judo and to some extent karate. Martial art has become a fad with youngsters, particularly girls, who want to use the sport as a weapon for self-protection. In karate, coaches say to gauge the best opportunity for attack and defence you must fully understand the rhythm of movement. There are many halls in the city where this rhythm is being practiced. Government Senior Secondary School, post office intersection, and at HRA International School standout if producing young champs is any barometer. The other day, a tournament was held in Ajit Palace under the guidance of Romesh Mahajan, Secretary of the Gurdaspur Child Welfare Council. Mahajan tells you with pride that he has produced more than 200 medalists who have participated in various district and state level age-group tournaments. HRA School, in particular, has taken a massive leap in sports ever since Suman Shukla joined as the Principal. That is another matter that she stays in the background, far away from the glare of the spotlight. To top it she was gracious enough to pass the credit on to school Chairman Hiramani Aggarwal and karate coach Raman. Shukla, however, had a word of advice for her players. “I often tell my students to train like you are the worst player and play like you are the best player.” On their part, the players acknowledge the presence of their Principal in their lives. “We have lots of heroes these days - sportsmen and supermodels. They come, they have their 15 minutes of fame and they go. But the influence of good teachers stays with us forever,” said a karate player. Coach Raman says he is particularly impressed with the tactics and techniques of Nitin, Diljot, Kartik, Ravneet, Jaskirat, Varun, Simar, Tanveer, Alokik, Balkaran and Jasbir. He termed them as long-term prospects. Romesh Mahajan says at least half a dozen girls, who right now are training hard, are sure to make a mark on the national circuit in the next few months. As for self-protection, he tells his girls, “Please do not hit your attackers. Just try to give them a new shape, like a blacksmith shapes and reshapes an iron.”

Water sports at Ranjit Sagar Dam remains a pipedream

The spotlight was on the Ranjit Sagar Dam recently when the Ravi was in spate. The dam authorities had informed all and sundry that if it does not stop raining, they would have to discharge the excess water. Villages were evacuated and people were asked to spend the night in schools and community halls. However, the rains subsided and the worst was averted. The dam officials did not have to discharge even a cusec of water. While the focus was on the dam, there were many who recalled the tall promises made by Gurdaspur former MP Vinod Khanna and incumbent parliamentarian Sunny Deol to transform the dam’s lake into a world-class water sports hub. With Khanna no more and Deol seldom visiting his constituency, people who wanted answers to their queries remained a disappointed lot.

Decks cleared for BJP minister lekhi’s two-day visit to Qadian, Batala

The stage is set for Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs, to visit Qadian, Dhariwal and Batala. She will commence her two-day tour from August 28 and will be the personal guest of former Qadian MLA and BJP leader Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa. The former legislator, who contested the last Assembly elections from the Batala seat, is all keyed up for the big visit. Bajwa says the minister will be meeting a delegation of industrialists in Batala. Everybody knows that the once famed foundry units of the “steel town” are staring down the barrel. A majority of the 1,500 factories which operated during the 80s and 90s have already shut down. Some have shifted to the neighbouring states of J&K and HP, both of which offer huge tax concessions, while others have taken their units to Delhi and Rajasthan. Fateh said he would request the minister to talk to the railway mandarins to ensure better connectivity for the city. Interestingly, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa is the sitting MLA of Qadian. How he takes Lekhi’s visit will be interesting to see. Both siblings have been at loggerheads ever since Fateh was robbed of the Congress ticket in the 2022 elections following which he joined the ranks of the BJP. He has been meeting Delhi-based BJP leaders off and on and has also discussed with them the problems of industrialists. However, till yet, nothing tangible has been achieved. All eyes are now on Lekhi and by the end of her visit, businessmen will be curious to know what she intends to do for them. To his credit, Fateh was specially invited by the powers-that-be in the BJP to attend PM Modi’s meeting held in Mohali recently. Ever since then, the man has been riding high on cloud nine.

(Contributed by Ravi Dhaliwal)

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