| NEW
DELHI : Veteran actress Zohra Segal who was named for the Padma Vibhushan last
week and actress and former swimming champion Nafisa Ali Sodhi were among the
recipients of the Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards this year. The
awards are given away every year to coincide with the death anniversary of India’s
space woman Kalpana Chawla, and have been instituted by PECOBA, which is the alumni
association of the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, where she had had her
initial training before going to join the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) in the United States. Among
the other women achievers who received this award were Padma Bhushan awardee and
Kathak dancer Uma Sharma, and Padmashree recipient and veteran singer Shanti Hiranand. The
awards were given away by Kalpana’s father Banarsi Lal Chawla at a function
presided over by National Commission for Women Chairperson Girija Vyas.
Segal,
now 98, has been acting on stage, TV & Films for the last 75 years. Her award
was received by her daughter and Padmashree awardee Kiran Segal.
Vyas said Kalpana
is now a popular role model for the youth of India. Banarsi Lal Chawla narrated
many personal incidents about his daughter and her love for greenery and environment
protection. Mr
Amarjit Singh Kohli, General Secretary of PECOBA founded by him in 1967, also
spoke on the occasion. The
Function was followed by a unique audio-visual musical programme on the life of
Kalpana Chawla entitled “Kalpana Ki Udan, Naari Ka Samman” produced
by cultural organization Sakha and directed by Kohli. Sodhi
had begun her film career with the National Award-winning “Junoon”(1979)
with Shashi Kapoor. Hiranand started singing from Radio Lahore at the age of 14
and continues to sing till date for the last 63 years. She wrote a book on her
guru and mentor “Begum Akhtar –The story of my Ammi”. Begum Akhtar
announced publically in a concert “If you want to hear my music after my
death, hear it through Shanti’s singing”. Uma Sharma is Director of
the Bharatiya Sangeet Sadan. Revolutionised Repertoire of classical form of Kathak
by enriching it with literacy and intellectual substance through her extensive
research on the origins of Kathak. | 