Home Launch of Amritsar Chapter Report-2009

 

 

 

PECOBA AMRITSAR CHAPTER

 

       

REPORT OF LAUNCHING OF PECOBA AMRITSAR CHAPTER

20th February, 2009

 

       

PECOBA AMRITSAR CHAPTER FELICITATES AMRITSAR-BASED AWARDEES OF KALPANA CHAWLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009

 

        The Amritsar-based Awardees of the Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards 2009 namely comedian Bharti Singh (Laughter Challenge fame),  legendary Punjabi Folk Singer Gurmeet Bawa, veteran theatre artiste Jatinder Kaur were felicitated in Amritsar on 20th February at a Function organized by Amritsar Chapter of Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh Old Boys Association (PECOBA). In addition to these 3 AWARDEES, Ms Baljeet Johal  represented the 4th Awardee late Manveen Sandhu who was awarded posthumously, while Kuldip Kaur, represented her  sister commonwealth Judo champion Ranjit Kaur, the 5th Awardee from Amritsar, who was away to Delhi for Judo Championship Tournament.

 

        The Amritsar Chapter of PECOBA was formally launched for the first time in Amritsar at a Function organized on 20th February 2009 at AGA Heritage Club, Amritsar under the leadership of Er Amarjit Singh Kohli (1964 Mech), the founder General Secretary of Pecoba, Delhi.

 

 

AWARDEES OF KALPANA CHAWLA EXCELLENCE AWARD WITH PECOBA  AMRITSAR CHAPTER ORGANISERS

 

    

 

 

 INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY ER. AMARJIT SINGH KOHLI GEN SECRETARY, PECOBA (NEW DELHI)

 

 

Speaking on the occasion Er. Amarjit Singh Kohli said that he himself belonged to Amritsar but was now living in New Delhi for more than 45 years. It was his heart-felt wish that a Pecoba Amritsar Chapter be formed. He congratulated Er. Jaspal Singh and Er. S K Handa for working very hard to make this happen.

 

 

ER. JASPAL SINGH (1971 Mt) CONVENER, AMRITSAR CHAPTER ADDRESSES THE AUDIENCE  

 

 

Er Jaspal Singh of 1971 Mt batch who had agreed to be the convener of Amritsar Chapter said that the idea of Pecoba Amritsar Chapter had been pending for decades. He said that he was inspired by Pecoba’s founder General Secretary Er Amarjit Singh Kohli during latter’s recent visit to Amritsar to form a Pecoba Amritsar Chapter. Later Er. Surinder Kumar Handa (1964E) also gave him useful inputs & encouraged him a lot. Moreover, when he learnt that the Amritsar Women had stolen march over all cities of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Chandigarh & had virtually swept the Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards 2009 instituted by PECOBA by bagging five Awards out of total ten in the sixth Annual Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards Function held on Chandigarh on 1st Feb, 2009, he and others decided to immediately form a Pecoba Amritsar Chapter & honour these outstanding women. This was done on 20th February, 2009

 

 

ER. S K HANDA (1964 E) COORDINATOR AMRITSAR CHAPTER WELCOMES THE GATHERING

 

 

Er Surinder Kumar Handa (1964 E) said he was glad that finally Amritsar Chapter of Pecoba was a reality. He too was inspired by the herculian efforts put in by Er Amarjit Singh Kohli to build this organization. He congratulated the Amritsar-based recepients of Kalpana Chawla Execellence Awards 2009 and welcomed all old Pecobians present and the Press.

 

 

LEGENDARY PUNJABI FOLK SINGER GURMEET BAWA LAUNCHES THE PECOBA WEB SITE IN AMRITSAR

 

 

Legendary folk song singer Gurmeet Bawa launched the website of PECOBA namely www.pecoba.in. It supersedes the earlier website http://geocities.com/pecoba123/index.htm.

 

 

The Amritsar- based website designer Er Bhupinder Pal Singh who is also an alumnus of Punjab Engineering Chandigarh, (1998 E & EC) said that it was a privilege for him and a matter of pride for the city of Amritsar that he, an Amritsarian, was chosen to design the website of PECOBA which will now be watched by PEC Alumni all over the world. He hoped that the website would be as long-lasting & as popular as the launcher Gurmeet Bawa who has been on scene for the last 50 year, and known all over the world for her world-record of longest breathless singing (Hek ie Alaap).

 

 

AMRITSAR BASED AWARDEES OF KALPANA CHAWLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009

 

 

Felicitation of Amritsar-based Awardees of Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards 2009. Out of ten awardees honoured in Chandigarh on 1st Feb 2009 at a Function organized by PECOBA, five were from Amritsar. The Pecoba Amritsar Chapter invited these awardees on the very same day of its launching ie 20th February, 2009 at AGA Heritage Club, Amritsar. Out of these five, three Awardees were personally present namely Comedian Bharti Singh (Laughter Challenge Fame), legendary Punjabi folk  singer Gurmeet Bawa and veteran theatre, TV & film actor Jatinder Kaur. Late Manveen Sandhu who was posthumously awarded, was represented by Baljeet Johal of Springdales School. The fifth awardee Commonwealth Judo Champion Ranjit Kaur was represented by her elder sister Kuldip Kaur, as Ranjit was in Delhi for the Coaching Camp preparatory to forthcoming Judo Championship starting on 26th February 2009.

 

 

SPPECH BY BHARTI SINGH COMEDIAN-CUM ACE-SHOOTER

 

Bharti Singh, the popular comedian of Laughter Challenge fame, said that she was overwhelmed to receive the Award instituted in the name of Kalpana Chawla. This was her first major Award & she would cherish its memories for a long time. Talking about her career as a comedian in TV & Stage Shows, she said that as a child she was often rebuked by her parents that she talks too much & this would create a big problem for her after marriage in the In-Laws House. She said that she always wanted to excel in some field & was a Rifle shooter at National Level. She had to leave Rifle Shooting, because being poor, she could not afford to own her own rifle & also could not meet the high recurring costs that go with rifle-shooting. So she carved a career out of her garrulousness. Making fun of her fatness, she said that it is ironical that now when she is famous & rich and would like to shape her body, the TV Channels insist that she maintain & even improve upon her fatness and roundness because they will get a better TRP Ratings. Success, she said, always comes with a cost.

Bharti Singh is presently studying for a degree in Multimedia in BBK DAV College, Amritsar

 

SPPECH BY LEGENDRY FOLK SINGER GURMEET BAWA

 

Legendary Punjabi Folk Song Singer Gurmeet Bawa said that she has received more than 300 Awards in India & abroad in the last 50 years, but the Pecoba’s Function in Chandigarh on 1st feb 2009 remains the best Function of her life. Never before she has seen the kind of perfection of Presentation, the metronomic adherence to timings & the quality of production of live story of Kalpana Chawla so emotionally & so truthfully told on stage by a battery of singers & visuals that she was in tears throughout the programme. She said that the Functions she attended in even foreign countries like USA, France, Russia, Japan were no match to the standard of Pecoba’s Function in Chandigarh on 1st Feb 2009. It may be recalled that Gurmeet Bawa is a living Legend who revived totally vanished Punjabi songs like “Ghori, Suhag, Lambe etc”. She invented Hake ie Breathless singing. Her world record of 45 seconds of breathless singing in Russia remains unbeaten. She has more than 1000 performances all over the world in the last 50 years.

 

 

SPPECH BY VETERAN THEATRE, FILM &  TV ARTIST JITENDER KAUR

 

Veteran stage, TV and film artiste Jatinder Kaur said “I shall cherish the memories of this Award for decades. Normally most social & cultural organizations make the artiste perform on stage under the pretext of giving Award & thus get a free performance. However, in the case of Kalpana Chawla Excellence Award, although the organizers had all the top stage performers like Gurmeet Bawa, Amar Noorie, Bharti Singh etc but none of them was asked to perform. It was a pure honour for all the Awardees,” She said that the Function she attended on 1st Feb 2009 in Chandigarh was a class. As is known Jatinder Kaur has been acting for the last 47 years and has worked with almost all famous directors & producers including film actor Balraj Sahni, Gursharan Singh, kewal Dhaliwal. She was declared “Mother of Punjabi Theatre” by the theatre group “Manch Rangmanch”. She has acted in more than 150 plays in India, England, Canada, Pakistan.

 

 

SPPECH BY BALJIT JOHAL REPRESENTING LATE MANVEEN SANDHU

 

As Dr Kirat Sandhu, the daughter of late Manveen Sandhu who was awarded posthumously, was down with chicken-pox, she deputed Baljeet Johal of Springdale School to represent her. Baljeet Johal said that she was thankful to PECOBA for their rare gesture of honouring Manveen Sandhu posthumously. She said “ Manveen Madam was an epitome of excellence whichever field she touched.”. It may be recalled that Manveen Sandhu was a great promoter of creative and performing arts. She was the founder of “Amarjyot” for preserving heritage of Punjab and also founded “ Saanjh, Amritsar-Lahore Festival. She scripted many plays including “Moran Sarkar”.Besides she authored book “ Maharaja Ranjit Singh”. She died in a car accident on 11th January, 2009.

 

 

SPPECH BY KULDIP KAUR REPRESENTING JUDO CHAMPION RANJIT KAUR

 

As the fifth Amritsar-based Awardee was away to New Delhi for participating in the Judo Coaching Camp preparatory to Judo Championships beginning on 26th Feb, 2009 in New Delhi, she deputed her elder sister Kuldip Kaur to attend the Function. Kuldip said that her sister had asked her to convey that she was very happy to receive the Award & it would remain a very valuable Award for her.

 

 

THANKS GIVING BY SENIORMOST PEC ENGINEER AT THE FUNCTION ER. SANTOKH SINGH SACHDEV (1961 M)

 

On behalf of all the members present, Er. Santokh Singh Sachdev thanked all the awardees/their representatives for sparing their valuable time from their busy schedule. He also thanked Er. Amarjit Singh Kohli for taking initiative to start the Amritsar Chapter of PECOBA, Er. Jaspal Singh, Er. S K Handa for the hard work put in by them to make it a success, Er. Bhupinder Singh for hosting Website of PECOBA and the Media and all present for gracing the occasion.

 

SOME OTHER PHOTOS

 

Click on the hyperlink to get the photograph:

 

 

 MEDIA COVERAGE

 

The Function was covered by both the print media & the satellite media.

 

Satellite Channels: The following Satellite Channels covered the event:

(i)      de TV, Patiala

(ii)      Just Punjabi, USA

(iii)     Sity Cable

(iv)     Fastway TV

(v)      Punjabi Plus TV (Part of DJ Cable Group):

 

Print Media: The Function was covered in about 40 newspapers. However, press clippings of only about 20 could be collected, as shown below. In order to see the clipping click on the concerned clipping:

 

 

 Internet Media