The 10th Panjab University Rose Festival

Chandigarh February 6, 2019

            The 10^th Panjab University Rose Festival is going to be held from 8^th to 10^th February, 2019 in Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden, Panjab University. The theme of 10^th Panjab University Rose Festival is ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ and ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’.

            The Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden was landscaped 10 years ago and is situated in the Heart of Panjab University in front of Vice Chancellor’s Office. Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden, the venue of the festival is spread over an area of 3.5 acres. More than 3200 Rose plants of 155 varieties are adorning the garden, which are in full blossom these days. The Garden of Panjab University has been given a new look for the festival.  200 nos. new varieties of fragrant roses have been added this year. The staff of Horticulture Division is putting in its best efforts to make this event a success.

            The three day mega event will be inaugurated by Prof. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Panjab University on 08.02.2019 at 2:00 pm at Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden. Prof. Shankarji Jha, Dean of University Instruction will preside over the inauguration and Prof. Karamjeet Singh, Registrar, Panjab University will be the Guest of Honour.

            The winners of the Flower Competition and Photography Competition will be displayed on the same day. On this occasion, the cultural programmes will be presented by Ankur School, Panjab University, Guru Gobind Singh Vidya Mandir Sr. Sec. School, Ratwara Sahib & NSS Volunteers, Panjab University. This will be followed by a competition of bands of various schools. Entry to School Band Competition is free of cost.

            Er. Anil Thakur, Divisional Engineer (Hort.) and Organizer of the festival apprised those present that the objective behind organising the festival is to spread awareness about the green & clean environment among the general public and to explore the hidden talent of students. During the three days festival, the different competitions will be arranged for different age groups among the School Children, College and University Students. For infants, there would be the competitions of three age groups of 0-1, 1-2 and 2-3 years for Rose Prince and Rose Princess at Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden on 10.02.2019 at 9:30 a.m.. Parents are showing great enthusiasm for participating in the competition.

            Different selfie points will be created so that the visitors may keep the glimpses of the 10^th Panjab University Rose in their memories.

            A three day Exhibition-cum-Workshop on the theme ‘Natural Biodiversity’ to sensitize the audience about the science, climate, environment, biodiversity, nature, flora, fauna etc. will also be there in the festival.

            There will be an Art Workshop ‘Golshan-2019’ curated by Dr. Tirthankar Bhattacharya, Chairperson, Deptt of Art History & Visual Art & Coordinator, Fine Arts Events, 10^th Panjab University Rose Festival in the Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden in which eminent artists from the tricity and other places will make live paintings on three days. GOLSHAN- 2019 has a group of 11 artists. The group has broadened its scope by inviting artists from Kurukshetra  and Dehradun besides acclaimed artists from the Tricity. The Artists would be using acrylic on canvas as their medium. Since GOLSHAN is Celebrating Rose Festival, the artists would be requested to paint in that theme. However, they would be requested to keep the 550^th Birthday of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji as the inspiration. The eminent artists attending this Art Workshop will be Dr. Gurcharan Singh, Seema Jaitly, Dr. Vandana Malhotra, Anju Pasricha, Raam Jatoor, Mandakini Sharma, Anjali Aggarwal, Saryu Bansal, Alisha Sharma, Waseem Jagroo, Manmeet Kaur, Kanika Kapoor.

            The 10^th Panjab University Rose Festival will have 15 competitions of different age groups such as Singing, Rangoli, Collage Making, Slogan Writing, Face Painting, Poetic Recitation, Dancing, Mehandi, Rose Prince & Princess, Painting, Photography and Fancy Dress. The theme of photography competition is ‘Life at Panjab University’ and ‘P.U. Gardens/Landscape of P.U. Campus’. All the winners of 10^th Panjab University Rose Festival will be given attractive prizes.

            The date for submission of entries for Photography Competition has been extended to 6:30 p.m. on 06.02.2019. Entries for flower competition will be accepted upto 6:30 p.m. on 07.02.2019 at Rose Festival Secretariat and on 08.02.2019 till 10:00 a.m. at Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Entries for all other competitions will be accepted upto 07.02.2019 till 6:30 p.m..

            Special children can participate in painting competition free of cost. They are not required to fill any form and just have to report at the venue half an hour prior to the competition.

            Er. Anil Thakur, Divisional Engineer (Hort.), Panjab University said that people are showing great interest in these competitions for which forms are being accepted in offline as well as online mode. Forms for participation are available at Festival Secretariat at Single Window Enquiry, Panjab University and also on the website ’www.panjabuniversityrosefestival.in’. The Festival Secretariat will be open on all the days till 6.30 p.m. including the holidays for sale and acceptance of forms. There will be an on the spot daily Selfie competition on all the three days.

            This year, an added attraction will be performers from Rajasthan performing on Kachi Ghodi, Nachar and Stick Walker performing on all the three days, courtesy North Zone Cultural Centre, Chandigarh

            All the three days of the festival will have special attractions in the evening. On first day of this mega event, there will a performance of Band followed by Fashion Competition under the able guidance of University Institute of Fashion Technology in the evening. A great enthusiasm is seen among the participants of the Fashion Competition. The topic for this year will be ‘Bollywood’ 2019’.

            On the second day, in the evening, there will be performance of Folk Orchestra by Sh. Vijay Yamla, Grandson of famous Punjabi Folk singer Ustad Yamla Jatt at 6:30 p.m. followed by Laughter Show by eminent stand up comedians and mimicry artists. Sh. Umang Sharma, winner of ‘Laughter da Master’ will be the star attraction of the evening. Nandpreet Singh and Anmol Singh Monga will do the ‘Bhand Act’. Jagdeep Bheema, a regular feature of previous Rose Festival will also perform.

            Prof. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Panjab University will be the Chief Guest and Prof. Shankarji Jha, Dean of University Instruction, Panjab University will preside over the Valedictory function on 10^th February at 6:30 pm in Old Convocation Ground. Prof. Karamjeet Singh, Registrar, Panjab University will be the Guest of Honour. This will be followed by performance of legendary Nooran Sisters.