A resident of Jalvayu Vihar, Sector 25, Ruchi Goyal Kaura is an extremely talented artist whose sensitive and vibrant paintings reflect her mind.

Using mainly acrylics, her canvases show a profusion of earthy tones like raw sienna, ochre and burnt orange contrasting with sporadic blues and turquoises.

Ruchi says that her paintings are more like the writing of a picture diary, each work a
sheaf of her life. However, fantasy is a large part of this artists work too.

“Nature and the supernatural embedded in spirituality inspire me”, says Ruchi who believes in the coexistence between the supernatural and the ordinary in every detail.

The young artist has participated in many shows like NTU’s Master Degree Show ‘In and Out’, Sūtra, Paintings and Rug exhibition held in Alliance Françaises de Delhi, Group Show, Art Club Bangladesh and Pegasus Art Gallery, Hyderabad etc.

She has won many awards throughout school and college. Not only did Ruchi win the prestigious RugMark Rug design contest, U.K but she also was the semi finalist in Adobe Design Contest in Installation Category.

The artist can be contacted at:

9891901900
ruuh23@gmail.com
www.ruuh.in

By: Imran Khan

13 year old Deepak Vishvakarma is the new rising star of Noida. Ranked 30^th by the All India Tennis Association (AITA), he is the first tennis player in U.P to serve a ball, 100 miles per hour.

Because of his rank, Deepak can now take part in any tennis tournament without having to undergo trials.

Member of Tennis Association, Daya Phatak said that Deepak has achieved so much at the tender age of 13. He is also being considered by the AITA and NTA for training in Nigbaltry City situated in the United States.

Deepak says he wants to win a grand slam for India and will be participating in the Asian Ranking Competition from 15^th February onwards.

A popular bureaucrat, 49 year old Sheo Narayan Singh Anived is not only the Commissioner of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, Ministry of Finance, Government of India but also a motivational guru, thinker, painter and poet.

A 1983 batch IRS Officer, he finished his B. Pharma from Benaras Hindu University and M.A Economics and Management from University of Manchester.

In 1996 Anived bagged the national award for his paintings. “When I started painting, I had never thought that I will be a national award winning artist cum civil servant at the same time,” he said.

He felt the need for formal training and joined painting classes for 2 months. However, he found out soon enough that he was a natural and all he needed was practice. “You can always find a new technique or develop a new one of your own through your own creativity and it will be your art style.”

Apart from paintings, he has written several books and poems like “Kavita ka Gaon”, “Adhunik Bharat ki Dwandwa Katha”, “Cosmic Celebration etc.

Anived, in 1998, bagged Delhi Kala Ratna Award for painting and Srijan Samman for Poetry in 2009. He has also been a motivational guru in several programmes for International Trade Fair, Goa Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Institute of Development Policy and Management, U.K and many more.

Jyoti Srivastav, an Odissi dancer has performed all over the world. A resident of Singapore for 10 years, she shifted to Noida in 1996 and went on performing Odissi.

Jyoti has performed extensively in India and countries like Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Mauritius, amongst others.“I live in Odissi and I breathe Odissi” says Jyoti, a perfectionist who continues diligently to improve her art and knowledge through constant practice and research.

As secretary of Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, Noida, she has organized international seminar and training progammes for aspiring young dancers all over the world.

Jyoti was initiated in Odissi dance by Guru Valmiki Banerjee and trained under late Guru Shri Nath Raut and has won a number of awards which include a fellowship from the Human Resources Development Ministry, GOI , Rashtriya Ekta award etc.

According to Jyoti, “Bookish knowledge and coaching classes are not enough for overall development of a perfect dancer. I cannot understand why young people do not come to watch performances of traditional artistes performing Khathak and Bharatnatyam and Odissi.”

Resident of Tata Steel officers’ colony in Greater Noida, Seema Jindal is a poetess, writer and a proud homemaker, but she says that to really find herself she gets lost in the world of colours. The artist says that she wants to spread happiness in her surroundings through art. “When I was four years old, we shifted to Tanzania for 12 years.
I remember, my mother used to grow sunflowers in our backyard and I simply loved them. Even today, when I am very happy, I can feel scores of sunflowers blooming inside me,” she says with glowing eyes.
A self-taught artist, Seema took to drawing as a child. “I started drawing faces with outlines. After that, I began doing portraits. And later as I graduated from science stream, I had no formal training in art nor did I attend any classes,” she says.
“When I was in my college I realised painting is an art and the passion of my life but in those days, I didn’t even have the money to buy paints. So, I used pen and pencil to paint pages”.

World of colours
By the time Seema’s family moved to India, she was a science graduate. By this time the pull of creativity became too much for her to resist so she switched over to arts stream and subsequently became a lecturer in English after completing MA in English literature. During this phase she took to creative writing in the form of poetry.
She feels extremely happy while expressing herself on a canvas. “Bright colours have a therapeutic effect on me. I use a lot of ultramarine blue. Blue is a celestial colour. It becomes more peaceful and calming as it gets deeper”.
Different colours communicate different moods and emotions. Yellow is one of my personal favourites. I enjoy its brilliance and warmth. This could also be one of the reasons why I am drawn to sunflowers which of late has become my trademark. I use them simply or sometimes symbolically. Personally when I am extremely happy I can feel scores of sunflowers bloom within me.”

Pleasant visuals
Working usually on positive subjects her endeavour is to tap the positive energy of the viewer. “I balance the rich colours and spaces to create visuals which are pleasant to the mind’s eye, urging it to look beyond. All this is done subconsciously. At times peeling layers off my subconscious to express is quite taxing and leaves me exhausted but happy. I work on my sketches, then transfer them to my canvas. Or if I am too charged up, I sketch directly on canvas. At times I start painting immediately if the idea has been brewing for quite some time. I can arrange and rearrange colours in my mind’s eye and visualize how the painting will look.”
Seema loves experimenting “I am influenced by contemporary art as it gives one the freedom of a bird, allowing one to stretch the wings wide and glide freely through the wide blue skies of art. A famous artist, Matta had once said for me that painting has been like keeping a diary to widen my inner horizon”.

Anmol Choudhary is the new tennis rookie in India. The 13-year-old boy, who lives in Noida Sector 15, has already established himself as a talent to consider in tennis. He got few tittles under his belt. He won the 2007 Haryana doubles title and reached the semi final spot in singles. He also becomes the runner up in the All India tennis Association (AITA) doubles tournament, held in December 2008.

Anmol is very fond of watching tennis matches on television and is a fan of Roger Federer. He considers Roger Federer as his role model. He used to play roller hockey earlier and shifted later to tennis on his father’s advice.

He is now under the guidance of Vikram Singh and improving his game at sports complex in sector 12.According to his coach Anmol is industrious and easily learns the techniques with little effort. Coach Vikaram Singh considers that Anmol has a bright future and has lots of time in his hand to be a good successful player.

Anmol is also a brilliant student. He bagged rank 13 in the state talent search examination. Anmol is a class 9th student of DPS and always among the top three positions in his class. Geography is his favorite subject.

His family is proud of him. His father, Navin Choudhary is an IT professional and mother, Monisha Choudhary, a teacher is supportive of him. His Younger brother Sanjoy is his fan and wants to play tennis like his brother Anmol. Anmol’s father is very proud and said that he is truly Anmol.

Anup Singh, a resident of sector 28, exemplifies those, for who age and health is no barrier to succeed in life. Though, this ace sportsperson doesn’t have working legs, his zest for life and passion for Tennis won him a silver medal at the recently concluded National Paralympics Table tennis Championship in Bengaluru. The championship was organized on February 14th and 15th by Paralympics Committee of India in association with Paralympics Table Tennis Federation of India.  Anup will now comprise of the Indian Paralympics Table Tennis team for international championships.

His both lower limbs got afflicted with Polio, when he was just two. But that didn’t keep this proactive sportsperson away from the field. Singh, who is by profession a PR consultant and the President of Health Care Society (an NGO), had not taken part in any tournament after 1984. It was after 25 long years that he decided to play and compete.

Singh had earlier participated in the Paralympics games before 1984. He had also participated in national-level ranking T.T. tournaments at various places in the country with physically able people. For many years, he was a registered player with the Bengal tennis Association. Singh had also been a district-level swimmer and a badminton player.

Even though many of us lugged the message of Taare Zameen Par with tears and resolutions, some academics fans still inhabit a desire to make their students and children toppers and academicians. However, the vaulting ambitions of generation next do not take long to be realized, if they are fed with creativeness and ingenuity.

The exemplary success story of Isha Das, a class tenth student and also a noted Odissi dancer, pins down our typical belief and incites us to desire and dream. Already a star in Noida for her impeccable dance performances, Isha has a rich experience of 10 years in Odissi dance. At just 15, this little star has delivered over hundred performances at zonal and sub-zonal level.

Isha is an acolyte of Deb Prasad Das gharana. She is being trained by the most revered Odissi dancer, Jyoti Srivastava, also a director of Nehru Institute of Odissi Research and Training in Delhi. Isha bumped into this unconventional dance form on TV and hence got smitten by it so much that she finally resolved to pursue it. “When I was young I used to remain glued to television. Once I noticed an Odissi dancer and realized that I should also be like her and I started working on it. Soon I got a dance teacher close to my house and started learning,” says Isha.

Isha bagged the first prize at a Youth festival organized in 2007 and second prize in 2008-2009. At this tender age, she has registered success by winning numerous awards at MTNL Health mela, Nehru Bal Samiti (Gold medal), Arya Vidya Sabha. Her profile also boasts of various workshops, which she has attended with various renowned dancers like Ramli Abraham, Durga Charan Ranbir and Gangadhar Pradhan. A very well known face in Puttaparthi Satya Sai Ashram (near Bangalore) and Sadagat Ashram in Rishikesh for her talent, she has also performed at World Dance Day, International Yoga Festival, Trade Fair (Shakuntalam theatre).

For this talented girl world is her oyster, but that doesn’t keep her away from studies. She takes her classes seriously and also manages time to attend her practice sessions. In this hip-hop generation, choosing a cultural dance form, of course, makes her choice unconventional but she pursues it for her inner urge. “I know that Odissi is not a saleable item in Bollywood but I am still learning the dance because I want to do it for my inner urge. Dance is a respectable subject and it cannot be measured in monetary terms,” she says.

Currently enjoying the coveted state-level scholarship from CCRT (Centre for Culture and Research Training), Isha feels she wouldn’t have been able to make it without her parents’ support. Despite of coming from a non-dancers family, her parents have propped her lot, as she says,” my parents mother Aarti Das and father AK Das respect my feelings and supports me a lot. They always join me when I go on tour”.

Now, how does Isha manages her career would be an object of interest, meanwhile if you have a similar inspiring story or know somebody who can be a muse to several others, please write into us.

New Delhi: Former cricketer and Congress candidate Madan Lal was on Wednesday admitted to a hospital in Noida after he complained of hypertension and backache.

"He was admitted to the hospital at 7 pm for hypertension and backache. But he is stable now and is under treatment," said a senior medical officer of the Max Hospital .

Madan Lal is contesting the Lok Sabha election from the Hamirpur constituency in Himachal Pradesh, which goes to polls May 13.

Noida: Parents in the National Capital Region (NCR) Monday held demonstrations against the hike in school fees of their children in the times of recession.

A group of about 150 parents held an agitation outside Ryan International and Sommerville schools in Greater Noida while in Noida the demonstration was held outside the Delhi Public School to demand a roll-back of fee hike.

In Ghaziabad, a protest was organised at the Dehradun Public School.

The protesters asked the schools to revoke the hike and threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha polls if their demands were not met.

Most private schools in the capital and nearby townships have increased the fees in view of the hike in salaries of government employees on the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. To pay the arrears to the teachers, the schools have passed off the burden to the parents.

“We are already going through tough times. Many of the parents have also lost their jobs during current recession. The schools, instead of understanding this, have passed off the entire burden on to us,” said Anup Khanna, general secretary of Gautam Budh Nagar Guardians’ Association.

“This is really pinching our pockets. Only we know how we are managing the entire finances,” Khanna said.
“The schools are humiliating us during these tough times. We have decided not to pay the arrears that the schools have demanded from us,” said Khanna.