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Ambala
—  city  —
Ambala Location of Ambala in Haryana and India
Coordinates	30°23′N 76°47′E / 30.38°N 76.78°E / 30.38; 76.78Coordinates: 30°23′N 76°47′E / 30.38°N 76.78°E / 30.38; 76.78
Country	India
State	Haryana
District(s)	Ambala
Sex ratio	921 ♂/♀
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 264 metres (866 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 1330xx,1340xx • Telephone • +0171 • Vehicle • HR01(private), HR37(commercial)
Website	ambala.nic.in/

Ambala is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border of the states of Haryana and Punjab in India. Politically; Ambala has two sub-areas: Ambala Cantt (छावनी ) and Ambala City(अम्बाला शहर), approximately 3 kilometers apart from each other. It has a large Indian Army and Indian Air Force presence within the confines of its cantonment area. Ambala separates Ganges river network from Indus river network and surrounded by two rivers Ghaggar & Tangri from North & South side.Due to its geographical location, the Ambala district plays an important role in local tourism.

History[link]

Grand Trunk Road, at Ambala Cantonment, during British Raj.

The Ambala Cantonment was established in 1843 after the British abandoned its cantonment at Saphera, following the malaria epidemic of 1841–42. The cantonment houses the ‘2 Corps’ one of the three Strike Corps of the Indian Army.

Ambala was given the status of a district in 1847, formed by the merging the jagir estates of hitherto independent chieftains whose territories had lapsed or had been confiscated by the British Indian Government. In its 160 years of existence as a district, Ambala has witnessed many changes in its boundaries. Its boundaries previously extended across tehsils of Ambala, Saphera, Jagadhri, Pipli, Kharar, Mohali, Ropar and Nalagarh. Kalka-cum-Kurari State, Pinjore, Manimajra, Kasauli & Sanawar were also merged into the district at different points of time.

Ambala Air Force Base is one of the oldest and largest airbases that were inherited from the British by the IAF. It was from this airbase that Spitfires and Harvards flown by Instructors of the Advanced Flying Training School took part in the 1947-48 Kashmir Operations. Subsequently, Ambala was the front line airfield for many years. It was home to various aircraft that were inducted into the Indian Air Force. Vampires, Ouragans, Hunters, etc. all flew from this base. The airbase was briefly attacked in 1965 by Pakistan Air Force's B-57 bombers. Today, the Airbase houses the ‘7 Wing’ with squadrons of Jaguars and MiG-21 Bisons.

In November 1949 Mahatma Gandhi's assassin, Nathuram Godse was hanged at Ambala Jail ^[1] along with Narayan Apte, a co-conspirator.

Demographics[link]

As of 2011^[update] India census, Ambala had a population of 11,36,784, consisting of 6,40,044 males and 5,32,740 females. Ambala has an average literacy rate of 82.9% with 88.5% of males and 76.6% of females literate. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.^[2]

Places to see in AMBALA[link]

List of attractive places in Ambala^[3]

• Gurudwara Anandpur Sahib
• Gurudwara Badshahi Bagh
• Gurudwara Gobindpura
• Gurudwara Manji Sahib
• Gurudwara Panjokhra Sahib
• Gurudwara Sis Ganj
• Jain Temple
• Lakhi Shah And Taqwal Shah Mosque
• Navrang Rai Sarovar Or Talab
• Old Lakes Or Talabs Of Ambala
• Mahavir Park
• Paget Park
• Ambika Devi Mandir
• Kos Minar
• Labhu Ka Talab
• Maharaja Agrasen Chowk
• Ambala Planetarium
• Guru Gobind Singh Library

Industry[link]

Ambala is known as city of scientific instruments.^{[citation needed]} It is a major scientific products market and is a hub for products like glass apparatus, microscopes,laboratory equipments etc.Ambala constitutes nearly 34% of the total production of scientific instruments produced in India.^{[citation needed]}

Ambala is also famous for its clothes market, which draws shoppers from surrounding areas. The market possesses a wide range of custom-made clothes for men and women.

Education[link]

Ambala has a number colleges, medical college. Ambala had very few colleges during British India period.After the partition of India in 1947 Punjab University,Lahore (now in Pakistan) one of the most prominent university of North India of that time was newly established in Chandigarh,India under the same name Punjab University,Chandigarh. All the colleges in the region were affiliated to Punjab University until the in the year 1956 when the kurukshtera University was formed.

[edit] Engineering colleges Affiliated to Kurukshetra University

1. Ambala College of Engineering & Applied Research (Estb 2002)
2. E Max.(Estb 2008)
3. Guru Nanak.(Estb 2008)
4. Galaxy Global SAHA.(Estb 2009)
5. Hindustan.(Estb 2008)
6. ICL.(Estb 2008)
7. Kalpi.(Estb 2008)
8. MM Engineering college(Estb 1995)
9. MM Sadopur.(Estb 2010)
10. Modern Institute of Engineering and Technology, Mohri (Estb 2008)
11. Ram Mulakh IET. (Estb 2007)
12. Shivalik. (Estb 2007)

Medical College[link]

MM University, Mulana

Kurukshetra University Affiliated Colleges[link]

1. ARYA girls College(AMBALA cantt)

1. DAV College(AMBALA CITY)
2. GMN (Gandhi memorial national) college (AMBALA CANTT)
3. Government College,Ambala Cantt
4. S.D. College (Lahore)Ambala Cantt
5. S.A. Jain college (AMBALA CITY)
6. MDSD GIRLS COLLEGE (AMBALA CITY)

Education College[link]

1. Sohan lal colledge of education

Transport[link]

Ambala is connected to all of the other major cities of north India including Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Shimla. It is a big interchange for various commuters for all neighbouring states. The Ambala Cantt. bus stand sees roughly 50,000 commuters daily.^{[citation needed]}

Apart from the Interstate service, Ambala also houses one of the oldest local bus service in Haryana, which is run by both Haryana roadways and private companies. Other means of local transportation include auto rickshaws and cycle rickshaws.

Railways[link]

Ambala is a divisional headquarters of the Northern Railway Zone and is an important railway junction. The city is served by three railway stations:

• Ambala Cantt [UMB] (Junction on Delhi-Amritsar-Meerut-Kalka lines)
• Ambala City [UBC] (On Ambala -Amritsar/Jammu line)
• Dhulkot [DKT] (on Ambala Chandigarh/Kalka line)

The Ambala Cantonment railway station was founded on the junction of the Delhi-Kalka and Ludhiana-Saharanpur lines. The historic Delhi-Ambala-Kalka railway line dates back to 1889 while the Ludhiana-Saharanpur line was built in 1870. Situated 200 km north of Delhi, this town is well connected by the rail and road network.

Notable residents[link]

• Urvashi Butalia
• Sushma Swaraj
• Parineeti Chopra
• Juhi Chawla

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ambala

v t e Ambala district topics Cities and towns Ambala Ambala Cantonment Mullana Barara Naraingarh Transport Ambala Air Force Base NH 1 NH 65 NH 73 Lok Sabha constituencies Ambala

Kuldeep Manak (Punjabi: ਕੁਲਦੀਪ ਮਾਣਕ‌) was a noted Punjabi singer^[3][4] from Indian Punjab. He was best known for singing a rare genre of Punjabi music, Kali,^[5] known by its plural from kalian or kaliyan.^[1][6]

Early life[link]

Manak was born as Latif Muhammad (Urdu: لطیف محمد) on 15 November 1951, to father Nikka Khan, in the village of Jalal^[1] in Bathinda district of East Punjab. He completed his matriculation from the village school, where he was a keen field hockey player. He had an inclination towards singing from a very young age and was persuaded by his teachers to sing and perform on stage.

Family[link]

Manak's father, Nikka Khan, was a singer himself. Manak had two brothers: Siddqui, a devotional singer, and Rafiq, a tantric, who was also briefly noted. Kuldeep Manak's ancestors were the Hazoori Raagis (designated cantors) of Kirtan for Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha.

He was married to Sarabjeet and had two children, a son named Yudhvir Manak and a daughter named Shakti.^[3] They both are married. Yudhvir is following in his father's footsteps as a singer.^[3][7]

Career[link]

Manak learned music under Ustad Khushi Muhammad Qawwal^[8] of Firozpur^[5] He left Bathinda and went to Ludhiana to pursue his career as a singer and started singing with the duo Harcharan Grewal and Seema.^[1] When they came to Delhi, a music company official spotted Manak and asked him to record the song jija akhian na maar ve main kall di kurhi (written by Babu Singh Maan Mararawala) with Seema. In 1968, at the age of 17,^[6] he was given the chance to record the song with Seema. His first record features this song along with laung karaa mittra, machhli paunge maape (written by Gurdev Singh Maan).^[1] This record was a runaway success.

Later, he started an office at Bathinda along with writer Dilip Singh Sidhu of Kanakwal, but did not stay there for long and returned to Ludhiana. The first folk song sung by Manak was maa Mirze di boldi, followed by ohne maut ne 'waajan maarian.^{[citation needed]}

The writer Hardev Dilgir (also known as Dev Tharikewala) spotted Manak at one of his live performances and penned many Lok Gathavan (English: old folk stories) for him.^[6]

His first EP, Teri Khatar Heere,^[2] was released by HMV in the 1970s which included the 4 songs Jaimal Phatta, Teri Khatar Heere (Kali), Raja Rasaloo and Dulla Bhatti (Dulleya ve tokra chukayeen aanke). In 1976 his first LP, Ik Tara, was released including the kali Tere Tille Ton,^[8][2] Chheti Kar Sarwan Bachcha and Garh Mughlane Dian Naaran and more. His further album released as a Super-7 vinyl was called 'Punjab Diyan Lok Gathavan', and contained Gorakh da Tilla. Further albums included 'Sahiban Da Tarla' (1978), 'Sahiban Bani Bharaawan Di' (1978), 'Maa Hundhi Ae Maa' (1980), 'Akhan ch Najaiz Vikdi', 'Ichhran Dhaahan Maardi', 'Jugni Yaaran Di' (1983) and 'Do Gabhru Punjab De'. Manak's voice was versatile as within one album he sang in many different pitches and tones to reflect a song's meaning. For example in the album 'Sahiban da Tarla' the songs Sahiban da Tarla, Yaari Yaaran di and Teri aan ma Teri Ranjha are all sang with different pitches.^{[citation needed]}

In 2012, Manak was featured in an album by Kalikwest, released on February 10, 2012, along with Bhinda Jatt, Sukhwinder Panchhi, Manjeet Pappu, Sukhdev Sukha, Inder Kooner, and Harleen Kaur. ^[9]

In films[link]

He also acted and sung in many Punjabi films like 'Saidan Jogan' (1979) with the song, sathon naee majhin chaar hundian, 'Lambardaarni' (1980) with yaaran da truck balliye (song), and Balbiro Bhabi (1981) as actor, singer and composer. He also sung a song, "ajj dhee ik raje di", in the 1983 film Sassi Punnu.^[10]

Manak also took part in the parliament elections of 1996 as an independent member from Bathinda^[11] but did not win.

Death[link]

Manak was battling a kidney disease for quite a long time. He died on 30 November 2011 due to Pneumonia lung infection, at the DMC Hospital in Ludhiana. He was 62 years old.His buriel took place at village Jalal in Bathinda.^[12]His Last album was Maharajas in which he sang 2 songs with both Jazzy B and Yudhveer Manak and 4 songs only with Jazzy B.

See also[link]

• Surinder Kaur
• Didar Sandhu
• Asa Singh Mastana
• List of Punjabi singers

References[link]

External links[link]

• Kuldeep Manak Bio - Bhangra.org
• Kuldeep Manak video Interview DESIblitz.com