IAS officer treads the spiritual path

Chandigarh: Bureaucrats are generally not associated with treading the spiritual path till they retire or are close to superannuation. However, Kakumanu Siva Prasad, a 1993-batch Punjab-cadre IAS officer, has set himself on a different path at an age when most of the officers are just keen to board the ladder of career success. He has delved into the spiritual realm by striving to understand the “real meaning” of the messages enshrined in the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita and is trying to explain it to others in simple terms. He has created 700 hours of non-stop MP3 rendition of the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita encapsulated in a small ATM-sized smart card. He has also set up a website, www.yathrarthmoksh.org, and an app ‘Gyani Ganesh’, which is available on the play store and app store. The smart card contains a 32-GB pen drive and Siva Prasad has been distributing it free of cost.

British hangover that lingers on

Jalandhar: Historian Surinder Kocchar has pointed to an “anomaly” in continuing with names of roads despite being aware of the unpleasant role played by these Britishers during the colonial rule. Amritsar still has Cooper Road, named after Deputy Commissioner Fredrick Cooper, despite the fact that he had ordered the killing of martyrs of the historic ‘Kalianwala Khu’ in Ajnala in 1857. In Lahore, however, a road named after Cooper was changed to Rahmat Ali Chauhan Road many years ago after a prominent freedom fighter hailing from Balachaur in Hoshiarpur district. Almost every district has a Lawrence Road – named after Governor General John Lawrence, who is known for his ‘divide and rule ‘ policy. “Are we short of freedom fighters to honour that we cannot rename our roads” asks Kocchar. A valid point.

‘Punjabi Icon’ awards in Mumbai

New Delhi: Canadian politician Ruby Dhalla and actors Randeep Hooda and Tiger Shroff were bestowed with ‘Punjabi Icon’ awards 2016 by the Punjabi Culture Heritage Board (PCHB), Mumbai, on the occasion of Baisakhi. Punjabi singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh, stand-up comedian Rajiv Thakur and Satinder Satti performed on the occasion. Board president Charan Singh Sapra said the other award winners were Prabhu Chawla (journalist), Prahlad Kakkar (ad maker), Pooja Bhatt (actress), Surender Singh Kandhari, Vivek Chand Burman, Rajinder Singh Chadha and Jaiveer Shergill. The main objective of the organisation, he added, is to promote the rich culture and heritage of Punjab and Punjabis among the younger generation in Mumbai.

SAD looks to socialise, much like AAP 

Muktsar: The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal seems to be following in the footsteps of the Aam Aadmi Party. Apparently worried over AAP’s popularity graph on the social media, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal recently told his partymen to storm the social media with the SAD-led state government’s achievements in the last nine years. He even told them that they would soon be given the material to circulate on social media. In SAD’s Baisakhi conference held recently, a special room was set up in the ‘pandal’ for the social media team to upload the rally’s videos and photos. 

Bigger role for Channi?

Chandigarh: During the “Punjab Di Gal, Rahul de Nal” interaction at Zirakpur on Saturday, Charanjit Singh Channi, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, was repeatedly asked by AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad to stand close to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, even as PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh remained seated behind Rahul along with Ambika Soni. Rahul kept Channi beside him while travelling throughout the day. While he kept mum on naming Amarinder as the CM candidate, the special treatment given to Channi hints at a bigger role for him in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly polls.

(Contributed by Varinder Singh, Rachna Khaira, 

Ajay Banerjee, Archit Watts and Rajmeet Singh