SDMC offers education dept post to Phogat sisters China artists mark pilgrim Huan Tsang journey
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has offered the position of the deputy director in its education department to one of the two Phogat sisters, the international wrestlers who shot to fame with the biopic, Dangal. It is up to the sisters — Geeta Phogat and Babita Phogat — to decide who would accept the offer.
An announcement in this regard was made by Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari after a meeting with the Phogat sisters at his residence. Mr Tiwari said that this is a tiny gesture by the BJP-ruled SDMC to recognise the achievements of Geeta and Babita.
“Apart from the job, the SDMC will also ensure proper residential accommodation for its new deputy director like the other officer,” added Mr Tiwari.
The Phogat sisters thanked Mr Tiwari and the SDMC for the job offer. The elder sister, Geeta, quipped that whoever wins a wrestling duel between the two, will join the SDMC as the deputy director. But she hinted that Babita will accept the offer. Mr Tiwari, however, assured that the SDMC would try to make a similar offer to the other sister.
The SDMC’s standing committee chairman, Shailendra Singh Monti, said that the corporation will ensure that during her (whoever accepts the job offer) playing years, she must concentrate only on her games and not on her duties.
Recently, the SDMC made Geeta and Babita its “Swachhta brand ambassadors”. A group of Chinese artists and photographers to trace and celebrate the journey of Buddhist pilgrim and scholar Huan Tsang (also known as Xuan Zang). An exhibition in the city highlights the traveller’s linkages with the country. Dried peony flowers on canvases, breathtaking pictures of the Indian-style Buddist temples in Luoyang and wonders of the natural world were part of the show that breathed life to Tsang, whose writings about his travel in India establishes the centuries old Sino-Indian ties.
“The White Horse Temple introduced Buddhism in Central China,” Zhang Xiaoning, who is a broadcast journalist in the city of Yanshi, said pointing to a picture of the Buddha statue.
Peony flower art, which involves intricate detailings with dried petals, was the showpiece of the threeday exhibition that started on Thursday. “It is ‘true flower art’. In Chinese folklore, peony is considered as the most beautiful of all flowers,” Mr Xiaoning said.
He said the participating artists work for various
media state-owned media outlets in the Henan province of China.
The exhibition has fascinating images of Laojum Mountain, Longtan Valley, Oasis on the Luo river Chan, monasteries and Buddhist monks practising