Punjabi Artist Wins Prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Ludhiana-based theatre veteran Nirmal Rishi has been honoured with the prestigious 2012 Sangeet Natak Akademi award for acting.
The award, presented to a total of 36 artists for the year in music, dance and theatre from all over the country, is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists.
An elated Rishi says she feels blessed as her efforts of spreading social messages through have been recognized.

The award, comprising a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a taam patra and a shawl, was presented by President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan on May 28.
With a theatre career spanning almost half a century, 70-year-old Rishi has acted in around 50 plays.

Spotted by Punjab’s theatre veterans Harpal and Neena Tiwana and further groomed by greats such as Ebrahim Alkazi and Balwant Gargi, Rishi has dedicated her life to the art that she feels the society must embrace for its betterment.

“That was a golden time when Punjab had a flourishing theatre scene. We put up several amazing plays such as Kabuli Wala, Aate Ki Katori, Dug Dugi Payi Wajdi, Adhure Sapne and Chamkaur di Garri,” recalls the artist, who even appeared in a few films including Laung da Lashkara.
Born in Mansa, Rishi completed her higher education from Ganga Nagar, Rajasthan. It was in college that she began performing on stage.
She moved to Ludhiana for work and took up a job of a lecturer of Physical Education at Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines. She retired after a service of 34 years.

While she always pursued theatre on the side, traveling frequently to other parts in Punjab and even abroad in Canada, US and the UK, it was after her retirement that Rishi formed a theatre group in 2003 named Alive Artists.

Rishi acts, writes scripts for the play and, lately, has even taken up the role of a director. “I have directed around five-six plays so far. Direction has caught my fancy and this is what I focus on now,” she says.

She, along with her 15-member team, performed at Rashtrapati Bhawan after the award ceremony.

Rishi has never married, and lives in Gurdev Nagar resident.

Amritsar's Gurdas Ram Jalebi Wale

When in Amritsar, do make a visit to Gurdas Ram Jalebi Wale, located at Ahluwali Katra which is quite close to the Golden Temple. 

It is a dessert binge that will make you crave for the taste again and again.

The shop was set up by a Himachali Gurdas Ram in 

1955. Not much has changed since, says Deenanath Sharma, the third generation owner of the business.

The specialty is the generous use of ‘desi ghee’. The sweet snack is priced at Rs 240 per kilo, but people usually buy it paying Rs 10 for a helping.

Chappar Mela in Punjab

 Originated as a small-time village affair in Chappar, Ludhiana, around 180 years ago to worship the snake embodiment of ‘Gugga’, Chappar fair has grown to become a mega affair. While the crowd has been growing by the year, so has the size of the shrine. Once a small ‘samadhi’ for the ‘Gugga Pir’, the shrine now spans 4-5 acres, villagers say. The seven-day collections by devotees now cross Rs 10 lakh, according to a member from the committee that manages the shrine.

On the opening day of the mela that is held around September, families can be seen thronging the shrine, some out of the customary practice and others out of firm faith. Villagers begin by scooping the earth seven times and forming a mound. They fill it with wheat and puffed rice. Interestingly, this offering of grains by villagers is sieved and taken by some who use it for cooking. Almost 60-70 kgs of grains is thus collected by the end of the day, informed a member.

Villagers feel that by praying to ‘Gugga’, they will be protected from snakebites. This belief has been passed onto generations through a legend that narrates the story of a boy and a snake born together in an agricultural family in the village. It is said that the snake and the child were so intimate that if one suffered, the other would feel the pain. One day the child was left on a cot by the mother who went to the fields. The snake, in an effort to protect the child from the heat, stretched its hood over him but was mistaken by the villagers as attempting to bite the kid. The villagers killed the snake, but the boy died immediately too. The family was advised by the villagers to perform religious ceremonies to worship Gugga that led to a revival of the kid.

Khajla

No visitor to the Chhapar Mela misses the ubiquitous stalls selling ‘khajla’, a delicacy from Uttar Pradesh. The most popular eatable and the best selling item at the fair, khajla alone draws in hundreds of patrons from nearby villages who come especially to savour this snack.

Over 150 stalls of this snack line up the two-three kilometer stretch that hosts the fair, leading to Gugga Marri shrine. According to a seller hailing from UP, over 1000 people skilled in khajla preparation come to the village every year for the fair and stay till the seven-day rural extravaganza is on. The majority of the skilled labour comes from Kanpur and Bulandsheher where this snack is extremely popular. Chhapar mela spells brisk business for them and, on an average, a stall sells anything between 150-200 pieces of the snack a day. 

Prepared with refined flour and oodles of butter, laced with various condiments and deep fried, the snack comes in four varieties – salty, sweet, made with milk, and using khoya – and is priced at Rs 50 to Rs 120 a piece.

“I have been coming for the fair for the last decade. The demand for the snack increases every year as the crowd itself swells up each time. The number of stalls put up have gone up over the years too,” says Pankaj Kumar from Kanpur. “Anybody who visits the fair carried a piece or two from the fair to home as the snack is available only during this fair at the village,” he further notes.

While khajla rules the roost when it comes to eatables available at the fair, other snacks popular are jalebi, petha and pakodas. 

From a Small Village, Gill Unites Punjabi Music Lovers Globally

From a small village in Barnala, Sukhpal Gill binds Punjabi music lovers from all around the globe. Gill runs an Internet radio station ‘Dhol Radio’ that plays popular and upcoming Punjabi singers for anyone with web access, and brings them on air for a live chat with the audience.

In just two years of its existence, almost all known Punjabi singers have reached out to their fans through the various programmes that air from the station live. “The roster includes well-known names like Sukhwinder Singh and Jazzy B. As far as I think, only Babbu Mann and Gurdas Maan are the only ones who evade the list,” he says.

Interestingly, the venture is not a commercial one for Gill, but is borne out of his desire to promote music from the state. “I do not allow any advertisement on my website. This, along with no political or religious agenda, is the only rule. I have a team of 20-25 radio jockeys stationed across the world but they work for free, purely out of interest,” says the 30-year-old. Florentina, a Romanian who was introduced to Punjabi language only a year ago, is part of the otherwise all Punjabi RJ team. “She loves Punjabis and the language. She presents programmes in English but has begun to take song requests in Punjabi from people,” says Gill. “My venture sustains on donations from the users. It’s a no-profit no-loss venture,” he says, adding that the recent finale of World Cup Kabaddi too went live for his global audience on the station.

A trained engineer from Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Gill prefers the peaceful life of a farmer in his village Kalal Majra. This venture, however, satisfies his urge to reach out to people. “Internet is a great leveler. I feel a sense of achievement when I sway people’s moods, makes them happy and promote new talent, all from this obscure village,” says he. Gill launched a social networking site soon after his degree that made ‘connecting with people” his passion. The real motivation for the venture however came about during his two-year stay in Australia when he studied Horticulture in the country. “I sensed a hunger for Punjabi music among Indians and realized there was a lack of an easy platform for them. Hence this venture,” he explains.

Teacher Makes Learning Punjabi a Fun Ride

That the kids today pay more attention to music than the written word is a grudge shared by teachers and parents alike. A local teacher, however, has exploited this very trait to teach the younger generation a language that is fast losing popularity with them – Punjabi. Karamjit Singh Grewal, also a recorded singer and award-winning author, has created a song ‘Aao Punjabi Sikhiyen’ that makes learning ‘Uda Aida’ a fun ride. The song is now a recorded single that is rising the popularity index by the day.

A Still from the video ‘Aao Punjabi Sikhiyen

This innovative effort to teach i  kind in the state. Karamjit, who teaches at Government High School Kheri Jhameri, says he always felt disappointed and troubled with the way his students entered the classes. 

“Reluctant, crying and sometimes howling. This is how the little students often entered the school. I then came up with this idea knowing how kids today are fond of music and videos. I hoped music would arouse their interest in learning and it worked,” says the 35-year-old who has been teaching at various levels for a decade-and-a-half now.

Karamjit Grewal with his students

Ehde Akhar ne Iktali
Gurra Piran ne jo Pali
Sadi Boli Bhaggan Wali
Uda Uda Uda
Maa Boli Punjabi de Naal Rishta Sada Gurha

This is how the lyrics go, weaving all the 41 alphabets of Punjabi Varnamala. Karamjit narrated them to the students in the form of ‘Boliyan’; his effort was supported by Headmistress Harjinder Kaur. The song was an instant hit and, seeing the warm response, local music company GPM Studio approached the teacher and recorded the lyrics into a song. 
This is how the lyrics go, weaving all the 41 alphabets of Punjabi Varnamala. 

Karamjit narrated them to the students in the form of ‘Boliyan’; his effort was supported by Headmistress Harjinder Kaur. The song was an instant hit and, seeing the warm response, local music company GPM Studio approached the teacher and recorded the lyrics into a song. 

“The five-minute song released contains the first five alphabets till Haha. We plan to release the rest of the song in turns,” says Karamjit. The song has been on air on major Punjabi music channels ever since it released a couple of weeks ago. The video of the song was shot at the school Karamjit teaches in and features his students.

Karamjit, who hails from village Lalton, has a number of recorded singles to his credit; his lyrics are often about social causes such as female foeticide. A recipient of the best teacher award in 2009 by the state, Karamjit has penned seven children books so far. His debut book of children’s plays in 2005 won Best Children Literature Award from Punjabi Sahitya Akademi.

Man Behind Santabanta.com

Jiwan Deep Ghai, popularly known as JD Ghai, runs the well-known www.santabanta.com. This infotainment providing website has been enjoying an ever increasing user base for over 13 years now who dedicatedly log on to the site for their daily dose of humour, interesting anecdotes, fanciful e-cards, a slew of wallpapers, Bollywood gossip and a host of other attractive features for varied age groups. 

J D Ghai

Featured among the top 1000 players in the global Internet world, the site receives a whopping 100 million visitors every month. What began as a platform for sharing humour is now a multi-crore company employing over 25 people.

Born into a business family of Ludhiana, JDs father dealt in real estate and mother worked as a teacher. Ghai completed his schooling from Guru Nanak Public School and studied Commerce at Satish Chandra Dhawan Government College, Ludhiana, before pursuing his MBA from Punjabi University. 

 

Even as he involved himself in the real estate and other businesses, humour remained a driving force for him. Eventually in 2010, Ghai, along with a friend who had expertise in Information Technology, gave birth to the site that began as a funny portal. The site has seen its ups and downs over the years, survived the dotcom bust and today stands as a booming one-stop point for full-on entertainment. 

“Serious infotainment business,” says JD. For the last nine years, Ghai has been staying in Chandigarh now from where he operates the thriving media house. Persistence and patience, says Ghai, has been the key to his success.

Punjab’s Girl in Global Research Team

City’s Sanya Aggarwal has made the country proud by being part of a global team involved in a groundbreaking research in the UK.

The young research scientist was a crucial member of a team of world experts that has successfully inseminated the UK’s only female giant panda through artificial means. The research was carried out at Edinburgh Zoo.

A still from Sanya’s interview on the BBC

 
The research was supported by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the conservation charity that owns and manages Edinburgh Zoo, and was part of a global panda conservation effort.

Sanya, 23, broke the news to the family a couple of days ago to announce her achievement. Currently in Edinburgh, Sanya is due to visit the family in June.

Her visibly excited parents, Rajesh Aggarwal and Rekha Aggarwal, told the Hindustan Times on Wednesday, “She seemed elated, but very tired on the night she called us to tell all about it, including her interviews with BBC and other global media.”

The couple runs an infrastructure and construction company in the city. Sanya’s younger brother Sharav is pursuing Bachelors in business from Delhi.

The family describes Sanya as an “exceptionally brilliant” student academically. Sanya completed her schooling from GD Goenka Public School, New Delhi, and pursued her Bachelors in biotechnology from Chandigarh’s Goswami Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharma (GGDSD) College. This was after the family shifted base from Delhi to Ludhiana.

Post this, Sanya got admission into the University of Glasgow for her post-graduation. She has been a researcher with the university for six months now.

The parents said, “Nobody in the family has studied science except her. She had no one to look up to or take guidance from. She makes us proud,” said Rajesh.


The research

 The research involved operation on Tian Tian, the UK’s only female giant panda, after scientists decided that she was exhibiting signs that were not conducive to mating, according to a press release issued by Edinburgh Zoo.

Tian Tian, the UK’s only female giant panda (left); Her prospective mate Yang Guang (right)

This even as her prospective mate, Yang Guang, was showing consistently encouraging behaviour. The operation was carried out on April 21.

Confirmations of whether the operation worked and Tian Tian is pregnant will come in mid-July after an ultrasound scan.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang had arrived in the zoo from China in December 2011.