Braving cold, for a ‘green’ act

Abohar: On the 12th weekly assembly of “Apna Abohar, Apni Abha’’ campaign on Saturday, hundreds of volunteers turned up to clean Lok Nayak Jaiparkash Narayan park in Nai Abadi, braving cold and fog. This was among the four parks inundated due to rain followed by dirty water that overflowed from the choked sewer system. Campaign mentor Sandeep Jakhar had also actively participated in the special Saturday drives to remove garbage dumps and trim the shrubs in other parks that were developed long ago to remember national heroes of the freedom movement. Former councilor Narinder Verma offered them tea and eatables. Morning walkers, who demanded washrooms along with an attendant in all parks, were motivated to not throw waste in the park.

The comeback man

Gurdaspur: With talk of Navjot Singh Sidhu trying to make a comeback in the Punjab Cabinet, a little known fact that has emerged is that during his cricket playing days he had earned the sobriquet of being the ‘eternal comeback man of Indian cricket’ for repeatedly making his way back into the national squad when the chips were down. In his 16-year international career, Sidhu made as many as a dozen comebacks in Test and one-day cricket. He would often rebound when his critics wrote him off. Such was his resilience and tenacity. The only other cricketer to match him in the number of comebacks was Mohinder Amarnath. Cricket writer Harsha Bhogle once wrote that Sidhu “had the mind of a poet and the hardness of a rock”. Hence it will be no exaggeration to state that he may make yet another comeback, this time politically. His detractors better watch out! After all, to have a comeback, you have to have a setback.

Free fuel for tractors on way to farmers’ stir

Muktsar: SAD’s Muktsar MLA-cum-district president Kanwarjit Singh Rozy Barkandi has offered free diesel to farmers moving towards the ongoing stir at Delhi borders. Barkandi has even given some telephone numbers to contact his team to get the free diesel.

Film on magician Shankar soon

Abohar: The shooting for a telefilm based on the biography of magician Samrat Shankar is going to start soon. Titled “Jadoo Teri Nazar”, it will feature glimpses of his magical shows and will be shot in Delhi, Mumbai and his ancestral towns Srikaranpur and Ellenabad of Sirsa district in Haryana. Earlier, a 10-episode series on him was telecast on Doordarshan and DD Bharati, which has been re-telecast about 20 times. In the past 45 years, he has done around 30,000 stage shows abroad of which 20,000 were done for charity. Born in 1950, he has created a magic box, which contains 15 games and he claims that after understanding those games, anyone can become a magician. Shankar says he has created the box especially for children, who, he says, should stay away from electronic gadgets, particularly mobile phones.

Now, a bookstall for farmers

Fatehgarh Sahib: “Rise to help”, an NGO comprising students of Fatehgarh Sahib, has set up a bookstall at Singhu border, Delhi, for protesting farmers. The brainchild of Ajmer Singh, a Sikh historian, volunteers have brought several books on state’s history, struggles and culture, which they are distributing among farmers for free so that they may stay motivated with the stories of warriors and religious leaders. Sahil Kapila, head of the NGO, said the youth, who were normally glued to the mobile phones, should read these books and learn that struggles were always won with hard work, discipline, determination and perseverance. The volunteers are getting good response and appreciation from farmers. “Leading Punjabi writers have also come forward to donate their books,” said Jasvir Singh and Kiranpreet Singh, who are supervising the stall.

Contributed by Ravi Dhaliwal, Archit Watts, Raj Sadosh, Surinder Bhardwaj

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