Splendid mini stories by Randeep Wadehra

Rainbow translated and edited by Karamvir Singh
Nanak Singh Pustak Mala. Pages: 80. Price: Rs. 150/-

Singh tells us that the genre of mini stories in Punjabi came into being in 1972. It had to overcome opposition and criticism from purists before being recognized as a serious literary form. Today it has become quite popular because of its pithy narrative, one-stroke characterization and often enigmatic endings not to mention crisp prose. In this volume there are some excellent stories like the eight lines long Border wherein a Pakistani farmer, entranced by the rendering of Heer on the Indian side, crosses the border and gets arrested. Similarly, Man takes a sardonic look at the craze for male child. Arcuated Knife depicts how communalism has affected our psyche. Optimist highlights a chronic loser’s positive attitude in a touching manner. Prize satirizes the police mindset.
It is really amazing how much can be conveyed in a few well-chosen words. The selection of stories is excellent, but the quality of translation is uneven.

The Tribune

Global civilization and India By Randeep Wadehra

1000 Years, 1000 People by Agnes Hooper Gottlieb, Henry Gottlieb, Barbara Bowers and Brent Bowers
Flywell Publications & Mosaic Books. Pages: xx+331. Price: not mentioned

What is common among Babur, Akbar, Mahatma Gandhi, Ramanuja, Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Ram Singh (of the Kuka Rebellion fame), Shah Jahan, MA Jinnah, Mother Teresa, Macaulay, Miyan Tansen, Clive, Tagore, Sri Ramana Maharishi and Srinivasa Ramanujam? These are thirteen Indians plus three others related to India who figure among top thousand men and women whose actions have had significant impact on the evolution of human civilization during the last millennium. If Babur founded the Mughal Empire in India then Akbar turned it into an enlightened entity. Similarly, Clive laid the foundations of the British Raj and Macaulay provided it with an enduring penal code. Ramanuja reinvigorated Hinduism by transforming it from a set of rituals aimed at liberating practitioners from the cycle of birth and death into a devotional faith. From a huge corpus of ragas Tansen selected four hundred and gave formal shape to them. Then there is the mathematician genius Srinivasa Ramanujan whose theorems had bemused the finest brains of his time. His ideas were so advanced that the world has been discovering their value gradually.
This is a valuable reference book for kids and adults alike.

The Tribune

Talented, telegenic television emcee

Punjabi television

By 

Randeep Wadehra

She is talented telegenic and pretty. Although one had noticed her on PTC’s Good Morning Punjab show for the first time Jaspreet Jassi’s curriculum vitae is quite impressive. She has co-anchored on MTV with such VJs as Nikhil Chennappa, Anusha and Ranvijay apart from hosting an episode of Roadies. Jassi has been a VJ on MH1 too. Having emceed several live concerts, beauty contests and corporate shows she has had the opportunity to interview/interact/co-host with the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Chris Cairns, John Abraham, Tushar Kapoor et al. Among the several interviews taken by her she cherishes the one with Navjot Singh Sidhu. When asked whether the motor-mouth cricketer-MP had allowed her to have at least a word in she giggled and said, “I was able to ask all the questions I wanted to.” Well, that is some achievement! As actress she has worked in the Hindi flick Aapne starring Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Kiran Kher; she has also done theatre in Canada and USA. Presently she is working for ETC Punjabi and Zee Punjabi in such popular shows as Dial-E-Punjab, Phulkari and Sohni Saver.
Manchester Vich Failda Zeher, telecast on 21 January, was an eye-opener. The famed Budda Nala turning black with toxins, the air dense with smoke, fog and other pollutants; the soil poisoned with all sorts of industrial wastes and other chemicals; the roads clogged with hydro-carbons spewing vehicles; a wheezing, gasping-for-life citizenry; and terminal, disabling ailments reaching epidemic proportions. This Stygian scenario is real, brought home to us by Rajesh Indrepall of PTC News. The tellingly eloquent photographs, interviews with pollution’s victims and local pollution control board’s officials, as well as collecting and collating the relevant data require painstaking work, which Indrepall has done brilliantly. This show is a powerful blow against environmental pollution. Harpreet as anchor was competent as usual.
It is well known that despite appropriate laws people in rural areas fall victim to preventable frauds and avoidable disputes where land and property are concerned. The implications of various clauses in wills and mortgage deeds can be interpreted by the unscrupulous in such manner that the gullible and the innocent can be cheated of their due rights and claims. This is where DD Punjabi’s program Kanooni Nukte comes in handy. The episode on 19 January was particularly interesting as the guest advocate Dadwal gave clear and detailed information on the disputes queried by viewers over phone. More importantly, the show’s lady anchor asked questions that were relevant and searching. Obviously she had done her homework and knew her subject rather well.
Another show on DDJ Chad-de Sooraj for youth normally telecasts folk or patriotic songs with an occasional off-beat item. This time the creative dance by Rekha – a university student – was quite interesting. She portrayed the dreams, aspirations and frustrations of a blind female violinist. Her movements were quite fluid and the body language eloquent. Only her face needed to be a bit more expressive. If she continues with her practice she can make a mark.
The late Bhagat Pooran Singh, the founder of Pingalwara institution in Punjab, has left behind a priceless legacy of selfless service. His protégé and successor, Padma Bhushan Dr. Inderjeet Kaur, has proved to be a deserving heir. From what one could gather from the documentary-cum-interview with her the pingalwara inmates are being well looked after. She is a trained medical doctor who voluntarily took up this social service after coming into contact with Bhagatji. Now, perhaps, we have a Punjabi Mother Teresa in the making. Thank you DDJ for such an informative and inspirational program.

THE TRIBUNE

A patriot’s legacy By Randeep Wadehra

Problems of Indian Nationalism by Bhagwan S. Gyanee
Unistar. Pages: 140. Price: Rs. 295/-

Many among India’s freedom fighters had a vision of what an independent India should be like. One is not talking of great men like Gandhi, Nehru, Bose or Ambedkar alone. There were others who, while engaged in the battle for freedom had kept the intellectual aspect of their struggle intact – Bhagwan Singh Gyanee was one such. He was the President of the America based Ghadar Party and an active freedom fighter. He nurtured a dream of what the independent India would be like. Accordingly, after India attained independence, he set about his cherished task of developing the country’s youths’ intellectual energies. His projects had the blessings of Pt. Nehru who actually attended some of the seminars and programs organized by the venerable Gyanee.
This book is a collection of the author’s thoughts on a wide range of topics such as Scientific Pattern of Education for Modern India, India’s Minority Problem, Our Wasted Genius etc. These issues, explicated by the author in the late 1950s and early 60s, are relevant even today. The author’s grandson Surinder Pal Singh should be thanked for preserving these documents and now getting them published.

THE TRIBUNE

A faux history By Randeep Wadehra

A Story of the Sikhs by Har Jagmandar Singh
Pages: 320. Price: Rs. 250/-

Refer any decent encyclopedia and you will know that Christians form the largest population group in the world at about two billion and Muslims second largest at slightly more than one billion. In India too Muslims form the second largest religious group after Hindus. Yet the author states in the opening lines of the chapter, Advent of Islam (page 26), “Islam is the fourth most widely followed religion after Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism.” The worldwide population of Buddhists is not even 500 million and of Hindus less than one billion. As if these howlers were not enough to put off an informed reader Prof. Singh discovers that Punjab was never a part of India but of Mesopotamia! Further, he postulates that Hinduism is full of misery because when Aryans came here from Central Asia their life was made miserable by mosquitoes and flies; therefore they invented the concept of Moksha. This book is a fine example of how not to approach a serious subject like history that demands a scientific mindset, rigorous research, objective analysis and a passion for truth and not drawing-room gossip, stale PJs and insidious prejudices. Since the author has specialized in English literature the lacunae are understandable but he could have, at least, read A.L. Basham’s The Wonder That Was India and John Keay’s A History of India, if not the more scholarly works by K.M. Panikkar or the action oriented Bhagwad Gita, before contemplating this collection of dubious history.

THE TRIBUNE

A poet’s take on Romas By Randeep Wadehra

Silent Flows Danube by Harish K. Thakur
Radha Publications. Pages: 77. Price: not mentioned

Danube is Europe’s second longest river that begins its about 2900 km long journey from Germany’s Black Forest and ends at Romania’s Black Sea coast. It has witnessed many a historic event but one of the less celebrated aspects is the existence of the Roma community (popularly termed as Gypsies) in the countries the famous river passes through. Who are Romas? Are they actually Egyptian tribes as many believe or is their ancestry linked to Rajasthan and Punjab as some others advocate? What have been their experiences as perennial outsiders always on the move? These and other aspects of their lives have been dealt with in readable verse, which conjures up vivid images. The evocative poem From the rags to rule just about sums up the plight of Romas.

THE TRIBUNE

Fun, frolic and introspection ring in the New Year

PUNJABI ANTENNA

 By 

Randeep Wadehra

 

If you have watched Mukesh Gautam’s classic serial Sajda on Zee Punjabi you would have been impressed with the quality and extent of the research work. Well, the young man who provided the inputs was Balvinder Singh who is presently Zee Punjabi’s Programming In-charge, and is also doing Ph.D. in Sufism. When contacted he revealed that he was “discovered” by Mukesh Gautam, who assigned to him the twin tasks of scriptwriter and researcher for Sajda, and also offered him the post of assistant director. Presently Balvinder is directing half a dozen or so shows for the channel. These are: Aj da Rashiphal, Sitare Ki Kehnde ne, Khabarsaar, Ik Khaas Mulakaat, Xcuse me please and Sohni saver. He also moderates special talk shows.
While watching Straight Talk’s first episode of the year, wherein the SAD General Secretary Mahesh Inder Pal Singh painted the INC in dark hues while presenting his party in glowing colours, one wondered at its lop-sidedness although Ritesh Lakhi did try to keep the proceedings balanced. There is a need for more representative format. Therefore, it is imperative that academics, professionals and other intellectuals share the platform with politicians and bureaucrats on such shows. It ought to be more representative of variegated viewpoints and ideologies.
New Year Eve shows are as predictable as the day-night sequence. Songs, dances and fun(ny) anchoring on shows like Maujan hi Maujan and Jashan-2008, although entertaining, were on familiar lines. However, there were some original, entertaining and thought provoking productions too, wherein creativity manifested itself. PTC Punjabi treated us to sumptuous portions of musical feast from its ongoing The Masters series in the form of virtuoso performances in classical, light classical, folk and Sufi genres.
Zee Punjabi came up with Manthan-2008 – an introspective piece on the happenings in 2008. Moderated by Balvinder, the unusual but interesting talk-show had the entire cast and crew of the forthcoming Punjabi flick Munde UK De on its sets, viz., director Manmohan Singh, singer Amrinder Gill, actor, anchor and dialogue writer Rana Ranbir as well as actors Jimmy Shergill, Neeru Bajwa and Gurpreet Ghuggi. The discussion covered such topics as the Obama phenomenon, terrorism, the plight of girl-child and the state of Punjabi entertainment industry as well as the absence of highbrow literary activities in the region. The animated discussions showed that our filmwallas too have informed opinions on what’s going on in the world. On their collective angst at unrealistic representation of Sikhs in Bollywood productions one could not help wondering as to which community has ever been realistically portrayed in our cinema.
Another unusual – probably a first on Punjabi television – Devinder Pal Singh of PTC News took the viewers on a tour of the newsroom introducing us to not only the highly skilled and talented back-office staff and sophisticated gizmos but also to the various processes involved in collecting, editing and telecasting news. Interesting indeed, and could be useful to students of mass communications too. This particular piece exposed the hitherto unknown aspect of Devinder’s anchoring – his ability to pepper the narrative with funny asides. And yes, the channel too came up with a round-up of the year 2008. The show titled Safarnama covered regional, national and international events of the year gone by with cogent comments from Harpreet Singh, Radha Sahni, Nirmaldeep Kaur and Devinder Singh.
On 04th January, the eve of Guru Gobind Singh’s birthday, PTC News came up with Apey Gur Chela – a well researched and produced historical biopic on the Tenth Guru. Guess who was the man behind this absorbing show? Daljeet Singh, who was featured in this column last week. Well done.
THE TRIBUNE