Hopscotch

Song of TogethernessYet another Gabru of Punjab has made it to the top of the pop charts with an Oye-Hoye. He is Harbhajan Mann, who chos...

Song of Togetherness
Yet another Gabru of Punjab has made it to the top of the pop charts with an Oye-Hoye. He is Harbhajan Mann, who chose to move from Toronto to Patiala all for the sake of music. Last week T-Series chose to celebrate the grand success of the with a press conference. What made one very happy at the occasion was that Mann chose to share the glory of the moment with another Mann. The lyricist, Babu Singh Mann, not only shared the glory but was centre-stage, with the media loving the jovial Sardarji. This came as a change from what another pop star had done to his lyricist. Remmember, Jang Nandpuri the man behind the song that made Daler Mehndi into a great success: Bol Ta Ra Ra. The fellow remained unknown and was compensated much later With money. Faridkot-based Babu Singh, who has penned some 2000 songs told many stories that evening. The sweetest was that about his song: Laong gavacha. This song of his was recorded for the first on 78-RPM way back in 1965 with Surinder Kaur and Mohammad Siddiquias singers. Since then any number of singers have sung it including Mussarat Nazeer and Shaukat Ali of Pakistan. But the lyricist was forgotten and the song treated as folk or traditional. The writer laughs it off for it is a compliment indeed to have a contemporary composition declared a part of folk!

Digboi to Delhi
Gallery espace opens this season with the works on paper of a young artist. He is Ashim Purkayastha. He grew up in the oil town of Digboi in Assam and went onto study art in Santiniketan where he was a student of the well known painter, Jogen Chowdhury. At Santiniketan he worked on various folk traditions and a comparative study of popular art. These influences go into making his recent works. The cross-legged Hanuman, the closed cubes of a city, the television set and every-day use articles go into making of his works which reflect the Delhi experience. The exhibition opens on July 30.

Picture Perfect
Photography started for him as a hobby. But for Sanjay Kumar it has now developed into a full-blown passion. He dabbled in painting too, till he realised that photography is what he enjoyed the most. His photographs have been shown in about 14 exhibitions all over India, and has also got him the associate membership to the India International Photographic Council, New Delhi, and The Royal Photographic Society, Great Britian. Sanjay says that photography is a very strong medium and has a bright future. 8220;Along with the written word, visuals are important too. And didn8217;t someone say that a picture is worth a thousand words,8221; he argues. Sanjay prefers shooting in black and white for greater tonal variations. Travelling the length and breadth of India with a camera in hand is something he simply loves. An exhibition of his work, called Scapes, is on view at Triveni Kala Sangam till August 1.