Roving Eye

A brainchild of the first administrator of HUDA8217;s Panchkula section, Vijai Vardhan, Vatika emerged slowly as the haunt after the arrival of Hot Millions on the scene. Earlier the well-designed cafeteria used to be deserted as the same old pakodas and 8216; tea or coffee as if to keep up with the concept of the garden used to be served.

Now not only the walkers, strollers and the yuppies from the satellite town converge in the evening, Vatika with its clean air and beautifully landscaped green beckons people from the city as well as Mohali. And, please don8217;t tell the Peeping Toms, I mean Cops you see, one can bump into lovey-dovey pairs whispering sweet nothings under the canopies over cans of Coke. At last we have a place where love is not interrupted but only enhanced by picturesque setting.

The garden is getting an extension both in space and spirit as the City Fountain shoots up from the adjacent yard. The fountain has many satellites and it will be a delight to view all these gurgling, some in colours and with music accompanying. Provided HUDA maintains the garden and does not allow water to stagnate breeding mosquitoes. The place was getting filthy with people8217;s habit of throwing plastic and used glasses everywhere except in the bins. The authorities seem to have realised that their visitors are incorrigible and it is better to have their own staff on roll to pick up thrown garbage and put it in sacks. But one wonders why Indians can8217;t observe a little bit of civic sense, for after all the Vatika is for them.

Fun in the rain
What better way to celebrate the season of rains in the City than to go in for a rain dance. So what if the rain is artificially induced for the bash. Held in Fun City Wunderland, the dance attracted large crowds, including pot-bellied papas and saree-clad mamas who couldn8217;t resist shaking a leg with their youthful sons and daughters.

For a change, there were no rowdy incidents reported and even those who decided to sit on the fringe and enjoy the show came back satisfied. 8220;It was fun,8221; was the general response, no matter if the pleasure was vicarious.

But those who decided to get into the groove had 8220;a swell of a time8221; dancing to mast numbers ranging from English Pop, Indi-pop to Khichri Pop. Daler Mehandi, the guy from sada Punjab, was obviously the hot favourite.

Well, the show was a success and we8217;ll see more of such events coming up in the future.

Memory Lapse
AFTER setting Bollywood atwitter with her title track for the Ajay Devgun-Kajol starrer, Pyar To Hona Hi Tha or Ta, according to Remo, Jaspinder Narula wants you to erase all memories of her jagran and mata ki bhante nights closer home. 8220;That8217;s the past,8221; coos the new hearthrob. 8220;Let8217;s not talk about it. What matters is the present and it looks good.8221;

8220;One day, I8217;m recording for Rajesh Roshan, the next day it8217;s Anu Malik, Anand-Milind or Jatin-Lalit. By God8217;s grace, I really didn8217;t have to struggle,8221; says she. But ask her about Max and she turns stone cold. Max, by the way, is a hole-in-the-wall recording company at Darya Ganj that launched the ghazal, pop and Punjabi albums with which she breezed into the dog-eat-dog world of music. But though she may not want to remember that past, Jaspinder8217;s proud father, Kesar Singh Narula, can8217;t contain himself.

8220;She sang her first song when she was just seven,8221; the father gushes, even as the singer tells her younger sis, Pammy, to keep him busy with food. The ploy doesn8217;t work and the father goes on: 8220;She has done all sorts of music and struggled hard to reach this muqaam.8221; Well! The past has a way of catching up with you, no matter how hard you try to shake it off.

Art not for art8217;s sake
Very rarely you come across a banker who can speak for hours on art and artists, and not just the superficial kind of gab but the sort of in-depth discussion that one enjoys when it comes to matters of creation. And it is very rare that a bank gets into the job of promoting art. So it is but natural that this assistant vice president of the Indus Ind Bank became instrumental in setting up an art gallery atop the bank8217;s office in Sector 9. For K K Sharma believes that art is not for art8217;s sake only, for the benefit of artists too.

Though a vestibule, aesthetically painted and well-lit, the gallery was inaugurated with the paintings by Anju Pasricha and pottery pieces by Harvinder highlighting the ambience. Anju is an enterprising and innovative name among the young breed of artists and though she is yet to have a solo exhibition here, her paintings have reached the big corporate buildings in Delhi and Mumbai.

The paintings she has displayed here are from a series that she is presently working on. In soothing pastels, the canvases speak on inter and intra relationship of women. But among them you find two landscape depictions too. 8220;I don8217;t believe in rules. Why should we stick to the same thing? Why can8217;t we have different canvases to display?8221; In a way this rebellious nature within her has helped in breaking the monotony that at times creep into exhibitions.

For most of the artists tend to stick to one series of pattern inducing a kind of ennui into the onlooker. Her paintings are as she is; lively but not belligerent, clear in perceptions and practically romantic.

For that matter, Harvinder too was a favourite with the corporate sector. 8220;But I wanted my work to be viewed as a piece of art, not just a product. I treat them like a canvas.8221; So her exquisite pieces, in hues that match Anju8217;s paintings, are a visual treat. Sharma and his entourage at the Bank led by Pramod Juneja, head of Institutional Banking, and Pankaj Ganjoo, Manager Operations, are thrilled about their venture.

8220;The artists can benefit from the gallery for we have big corporates and influential persons in the list of our clintele. Nowadays art has become an integral part of any modern office,8221; Sharma stressed. 8220;The artists can display their works here for a period of 15 days and it is free for them. We will not extract any levy from the sale they make during the exhibition in our gallery.8221; Oscar Wilde, high time you mended your ways, for you said: 8220;All art is quite useless.8221;

Horny Bill
In a city where the hottest new thing on the cocktail circuit is the Monica Lewinsky Act8217;, Clinton jokes, not unexpectedly, are multiplying in Malthusian proportions. Sample the latest:
Why does Bill wear woollen underwear?
To keep his ankles warm.
What did Bill say when he went to Martha8217;s Vineyard?
Go get me Martha.
Which bird is replacing the bald eagle as America8217;s national mascot?
Horny Bill.

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