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25 - 31 October 2013 l N° 904 l PAGE 40
MANNA DEY Legendary Indian singer passes away Indian singer Manna Dey has died in a Bangalore hospital at the age of 94. He had been ill for the past few months and was in hospital for a respiratory infection. BORN PRABODH CHANDRA DEY in 1919, Dey was popularly known as Manna, and chalked up a number of hit Bollywood songs in a career spanning over six decades. He sang in several languages including Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi and Bhojpuri. His long career saw him win several awards for his contribution to music, including state honours like the Padma Shri in 1971 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2005. He was also given the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007. Dey sang more than 3,500 songs, including romantic ballads, intricate raga-based songs, Qawwalis and fast-paced modern numbers in his career. Along with Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore Kumar, he made up what was known as the “famous quartet of singers” who dominated the Hindi film music industry from 1950 to 1970 and even beyond. Many of Dey’s tracks for Bollywood films became huge hits and he sang for some of the biggest Bollywood names like Raj Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra. His most popular numbers included Zindagi kaisi hai paheli (Life, what a riddle it is) from the film Anand; Poocho na kaise maine raen bitayee (Don’t ask how I spent my night) from Meri Surat Teri Aankhen, Ek chatur naar (A clever woman) from Padosan and and Eey bhai zara dekh ke chalo (Oh brother, look where you’re going) from Meraa Naam Joker. He also sang for Bollywood super-hits
UNIVERSIADE 2013:
Sholay and Amar Akbar Anthony. He visited Mauritius twice the first time in 1960 and performed to packed houses. In the last few years, he had largely withdrawn from public life. Tributes have been pouring in for the singer from the film industry and his fans on social media sites. • Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari led the nation in paying tributes to “a legend who enthralled a whole generation”. • “Manna Dey, stalwart of the music world, passes away. Flooded with memories and his songs,” tweeted Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. • In another tweet, Bachchan said: “Strange how we connect events of our life with his songs.” • “Manna Dey passes away. His voice shall linger forever. R.I.P.” tweeted film-maker Mahesh Bhat. • Actor Manoj Bajpai tweeted: “Manna Dey is no more! A great singer! Let’s pray for him! My condolences to his family! His music will live for 1000 yrs. RIP” • Actress Shabana Azmi wrote: “Manna Dey had a unique voice. He will live on through his songs Ai Meri Zohra Jabeen/ dil ka haal suney dilwala/ poocho na kaise maine. RIP.” • He is survived by his daughters Shuroma and Sumita. His wife, Sulochana, died of cancer last year. S.H
The inter university sports competition This is the third year that Universiade 2013 - the inter university sports competition - is being organised. UNIVERSIADE is an initiative of the Tertiary Education Commission. It is being held in collaboration with the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. This activity has become an annual event, featuring in the calendar of all the universities. It has even attained the objective of creating a platform to allow tertiary students to engage in sports activities and build linkages. “Sports activities are one of the ways to sensitise the youth to engage in sports activities to lead a healthy life. It teaches us sportsmanship, sharing, discipline and accountability. It also increases our endurance power- to face the hardship of a sport activity – to concentrate and most importantly it teaches us to rise after a failure. The number of sports activities in which university students are engaged in the Universiade has been increasing yearly… We have to make more efforts to include disciplines such as swimming, boat racing, cycling and others next year.
Universiade 2014 should also consider including some activities for students with disabilities”, says Dr Jeetah, Minister of Tertiary Education. The Opening Ceremony was held on Monday 14 October at the University of Mauritius Gymnasium, Réduit. The competition has had the participation of 22 institutions and some 1500 participants. The tertiary students performed in various sports disciplines namely Athletics, Football, Volley Ball, Basket Ball, Table Tennis, Badminton, Cricket, Tug of War, Cross Country, Rugby and Hand Ball. The closing ceremony of the Universiade will take place this Friday 25th October from 3pm to 6pm on the football ground of the University of Mauritius, Reduit. All tertiary students of Mauritius are invited and entrance is free. Note also that local artistes amongst Alain Ramanisum and the national champion kick boxers will perform at the closing ceremony. Jameela JADDOO