Vinod Anand

THERE is a difference between a house and a home. A house is just a structure, but, a home includes people who live there as a family and look after each other. It is also decorated according to the choice of the members of the family. Once you go out somewhere, you are keen to return to your place of dwelling and feel greatly satisfied when that happens.

It is also maintained off and on to provide big comfort to everyone. In fact, home is where the heart is. A house is just a place to live in, but, a home is where you can relax and which you are attached to. Your soul also stays there with you. It is a place where you like to stay and nurture it well too.

Apart from many other essential things, a good home must have a good music system. It is said that all music is beautiful; it is also the food of love. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music. Music expresses that which cannot be said. It's not always enough to listen to music; we also love to talk about it, think about it, even dream about it. And these quotes are sure to fuel any conversation.

Music is well said to be the speech of angels. Nothing is better than music... It has done more for us than we have the right to hope for.

Light quirks of music, broken and uneven, make the soul dance. Music is a language in which messages are enshrined. Such messages can be understood by many but sent out only by a few, and that it alone among all the languages unites the contradictory character of being at once intelligible and untranslatable. This makes the creator of music god.

Besides, music therapy helps reduce anxiety and stress. Hence, it has become essential for all age groups to avail the benefits of this therapy for peace and mind and improving concentration. It is pertinent to mention that music therapy is in vogue in the western countries and it is even practiced in India. Music records (played on the gramophones), songs (and their in-depth lyrics), and tunes, essentially of the yesteryears, are much in demand as they bring down the stress level and also increases the concentration power of the listeners, and they go down the memory lane, and remember their earlier times.

We must remember the famous words of June Masters Bacher: "Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever." Music is the art of thinking with sounds.

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A calendar dedicated to revolutionary writers, artists

Gurpreet Singh writes from Vancouver

THERE is a difference between a house and a home. A house is just a structure, but, a home includes people who live there as a family and look after each other. It is also decorated according to the choice of the members of the family. Once you go out somewhere, you are keen to return to your place of dwelling and feel greatly satisfied when that happens.

A calendar dedicated to revolutionary writers and artists was unveiled by prominent progressive Punjabi poet Gurcharan Rampuri at his home in Coquitlam near Vancouver, earlier this month. The year 2012 calendar, dedicated to Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz whose birth centenary was celebrated across the world last year, bears the dates of birth and death anniversaries of renowned leftist writers and artists from India and Pakistan.

The calendar was jointly issued by the Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians (CPPC) and the UBC Asian Studies Department and co-sponsored by the Indo-Canadian Workers’ Association (ICWA), besides Radio India.

Rampuri is a veteran poet who was physically attacked for criticising religious extremism within the Sikh community during the early 1980s. He currently remains homebound because of his ill health,which is why the unveiling ceremony took place at his residence. Those in attendance were the CPPC leaders Saif Khalid and Hamid and ICWA leader Kulwant Dhesi. Among others present on the occasion were local Punjabi writers and scholars, including Manga Bassi, Mohinder Soomal, Nadeem Parmar, Dr Raghbir Singh Sirjana, Mohan Gill, Jarnail Sekha and Harpreet Sekha.

The calendar bears the dates of birth and death anniversaries of the scholars who passed away last year. They include playwright Gursharan Bhaaji and painter MF Husain. Other important dates marked on the calendar include the day when revolutionary poet Pash was assassinated by the pro-Khalistan terrorists. The 25th anniversary of his martyrdom falls next year. Likewise, the death anniversaries of revolutionary poet Jaimal Padha and playwright Safdar Hashmi are also marked on the calendar. While Padha was assassinated by religious extremists, Hashmi died after being beaten by political goons.

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