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PremiumOf lives and loves: From Chaos Theory.
DELHI
Theatre
Chaos Theory
13-14 December
7pm, Saturday ; 4pm and 7pm, Sunday. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (43663333). Tickets, Rs50-300, available at the venue.
Ibsen’s Women
18 December
In collaboration with the Norwegian embassy, Nissar Allana is organizing the week-long Delhi Ibsen Festival, celebrating Ibsen’s drama. ‘Ibsen’s Women’ which is in Norwegian, features well-known Norwegian theatre actor Juni Dahr. Allana described the presentation as “a one-woman tour de force through the different women characters in Ibsen’s plays".
7pm. Chinmaya Centre, 89, Lodhi Estate, Lodhi Road (24697848).
Art
Dark Room
Until 19 December
Daily, 10am-6pm. Academy of Photographic Excellence, 60, Basant Lok Community Centre, behind Passion Tea, Vasant Vihar (41669520).
Against the Wall
From 15 December
A series of images capturing Kondh, one of India’s endangered indigenous groups, by Jason Taylor and Sanjit Das, who spent a lot of time with the community. The accompanying text includes some key facts on the status of tribal groups around the world and in India as well as basic details about the Kondh.
Daily, 10am-6pm. India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (43662009).
Music
Rabbi Shergill
17 December
The Sufi rocker will perform at a programme ‘Expressions On Nature’, where there will also be a poetry recital by Gagan Gill.
7.15pm. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (43663333).
Mahua Chatterjee
17 December
A recital by Mahua Chatterjee, who is adept at both the Kirana and Banaras gharana styles of singing. She is a disciple of Arun Chatterjee and Rajan and Sajan Mishra.
7.30pm. Epicentre, Apparel House, Sector 44, Gurgaon (95124-2715000).
MUMBAI
Around town
Human chain
12 December
If you haven’t been forwarded the email, seen the posters or had a flyer thrust into your hands, here’s what will happen on 12 December. Between noon and 12.15pm, thousands of Mumbaikars will form a human chain at various locations across the city, holding hands to symbolize their outrage against terror, war and violence. Focus on the Global South is one of the 50-odd civic groups that formed Mumbai For Peace, which is organizing the event.
Their 10-point charter of expectations includes the need for long- and short-term security strategies, better coordination among security and intelligence agencies and a more comprehensive communal violence bill.
Routes run from Nariman House via Taj Mahal Hotel, Mahapalika Marg, Mohammad Ali Road, Byculla Zoo, Dadar TT Circle and Sion circle to Mahim Causeway along the west. The east side covers the Oberoi, Maharshi Karve Road, Metro, Nana Chowk, Mahalaxmi Temple, Worli Naka, Gokhale Road and on to SV road via Mahim Causeway. Visit www.mumbaicitizens.com for details.
Girangaon film festival
12-13 December
A neighbourhood that is now a one-stop destination for factory-price goods from multinationals is seeking to remind Mumbaikars of its homespun past. The Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti, which represents vast numbers of mill workers who live and work in Girangaon, is organizing a film festival on 12 and 13 December in the memory of freedom fighter Sayeed Babu Genu. Genu, a mill worker, died in Kalbadevi on 12 December 1930 during a civil disobedience protest against the import of cloth. The festival will screen documentaries and short films about the mill land issue and the changing character of central Mumbai at the Bharatmata theatre.
Entry, Rs10. BR Ambedkar Road, Lalbag (24700673).
Happy Home exhibition
12-15 December
The annual exhibition and sale of products created by the visually impaired children of Happy Home and School for the Blind is the institution’s way of showing people that although the kids at the school and home cannot see, they have a highly developed sense of touch and feel that enables them to craft beautiful objects. Formal education at the school consists of balanced classes in music and drama, carpentry, ceramics, mosaic, pottery and greeting cards.
10am-6pm. 1, Annie Besant Road, opposite Poonam Chambers, Worli (24923198).
Rare Book exhibition
From 17 December
Take a close look at an 1880 book documenting Prince Albert’s visit to India when you visit the Hornbill House this fortnight. It’s opened to a page that features the Prince outside Parel House, looking down at his cheering subjects. He’s obviously having fun. Banners in the background read, “Tell Mama I’m Happy In India."
Details such as this make up much of the rare books exhibition at the Bombay Natural History Society this fortnight. The exhibition, jointly organized by BNHS and the Rotary Club of Bombay Seacoast, celebrates 125 years of the society by adding members’ private collections to that of the library’s. None of these will be on sale, but if you want to pick up a souvenir, bookplates from old society journals are available for a few thousand rupees.
10.30am-6pm. Hornbill House, Salim Ali Chowk, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road (22821811).
Theatre
Kahani Sumitra Ki
15-16 December
In Sumitra’s world, love has no redeeming qualities. It is simply a game of power and the sexual act is nothing more than a sordid transaction. Directed by the late Chetan Datar, the production contrasts a destructive lesbian relationship against a more constructive and platonic heterosexual one with late playwright Vijay Tendulkar’s dark commentary on power and sexual politics.
7pm. Awishkaar, New Mahim municipal school, Miya Mohammed Chotani Marg, Teesari Galli, Mahim (W) (24445871). Donor cards available at the venue.
Film
The Finger Man
16 December
Jean-Pierre Melville’s venture into the Parisian underworld borrows its epigraph from Louis-Ferdinand Céline: “One must choose: die... or lie?" At the heart of his world is Silien (Jean-Paul Belmondo), by repute a professional informer who juggles twin friendships with a police inspector (Daniel Crohem) and a burglar (Serge Reggiani). Just out of jail, afraid he can’t cut it in the underworld any more, involved in an act of revenge that leaves him with a nasty taste in his mouth, Reggiani finds Crohem lurking in ambush when he undertakes his next job. The images point unequivocally to Belmondo as the informer, until Melville skims through them again to reveal a different story. Terrific performances, and equally terrific camerawork from Nicolas Hayer.
6.30pm. Alliance Française, Theosophy Hall, New Marine Lines (22035993).
Cinema of Prayoga
18 December
Since June, film theorist and curator Amrit Gangar has been screening experimental films at an event titled ‘Cinema of Prayoga’. Through the screenings, Gangar hopes to shed light on the Indian experimental scene and comes up with new ways of looking at this film-making form. The last session this month is on experimental pioneer Mani Kaul. In ‘Before My Eyes’, Mani Kaul casts his unique gaze on Kashmir and ‘Mati Manas’ is a film about the legends associated with terracotta sculpture and pottery.
6.30pm. Little Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point (66223737).
BANGALORE
Photography
Photography onthemove
12-13 December
The adventure travel group getoffurass is conducting another ‘Photography onthemove’ workshop tagged, ‘Seven beginners, one photography teacher and an adventure’. The photographers: Paul Baultazar, Maria Saldarriaga, Ajeet Pinto, Lance Thornswood, Joseph Cairns, Gita Sriram and Michael Hubbard. The instructor: Hellmuth Conz. The adventure: an ‘OnTheMove’ workshop held earlier this year at Coorg. Visit www.getoffurass.com.
Time and Space, 55, Lavelle Road (22124117). 11am-7pm.
Art
Prananime
18-28 December
Toby Barnes, an Asian-American painter of Thai heritage, paints landscapes populated by robotic forms and spiritual icons from the Hindu gods Krishna to Shiva represented in animé. Barnes, who completed his studies in art at the University of Michigan in 1999, says his work is inspired by Eastern philosophy and contemporary pop/techno-culture iconography. “In my paintings, I traverse this vast terrain by drawing upon computer and digital-era aesthetics in two ways," says Barnes. “First, I create landscapes populated by robotic forms and spiritual icons," he explains. “The robotic forms are deployed as more than just representations of man’s technological prowess or his futuristic fantasies. In some of my paintings, these forms appear as sages in meditative poses, their serenity contrasting sharply with their steely exteriors." In others, the forms take flight as alien visitors on snowy mountain tops or humorous deviants on lotus blossoms.
11am-7pm, Monday-Saturday. 55, Lavelle Road (22124117).
Around town
Bangalore Nano
12 December
Given the direction in which science is headed, the denier cri of physical measurement of the future, as it were, is the nanometre, one billionth of a metre. The Karnataka government is holding a three-day event in association (which began on 11 December) with the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. The event, which focuses on the role of nanotechnology in India’s future, highlights the latest advances in the sector and allows researchers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and academicians to come together.
9.30am-6pm. The Grand Ashok, Kumara Krupa Road, High Grounds. Students, Rs2,000. Standard, Rs5,000. Single day, Rs2,000. For details, call 41131912.
TiE Summit
16 December
Bring your business ideas to ‘The Indus Entrepreneurship Summit’ as you join entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, policy-makers, academicians, industry and thought leaders to talk about entrepreneurship. This year’s summit focuses on retail, real estate, health care, manufacturing, social entrepreneurship, clean technology and mobile phones. The event features a total of 43 sessions. Get one-on-one sessions with mentors, listen to entrepreneurs speak, hear inspiring stories or attend the conference with speakers from industry. The focus is to support and promote entrepreneurs.
9.30am-8pm. The Grand Ashok, Kumara Krupa Road, High Grounds. Members, Rs7,000, Non-members, Rs8,000, Students, Rs5,000. Registration plus annual membership fee, Rs9,500. For details, call 65461770.
These Errors Are Correct
18 December
Jeet Thayil is either seen in the aisles of bookshops or food shops depending on the fix he is looking for; he presently says he is obsessed with poetry and coffee. If you’ve been to shops in Bangalore, it will be much easier to find coffee even in bookstores, so go ahead and hear perhaps one of the most recognized voices of Bangalore read from his latest collection of poems, ‘These Errors Are Correct’.
5.30pm. Mahua Art Gallery, 344/8, first floor, 4th Main Road, Sadashivnagar (23616971).
Theatre
Five Grains of Sugar
16-18 December
Rajkumar is a young man from the “other" India, the India that is not overrun with urban ambition and is taut with the animal struggle to survive. In his small town India, lives unravel quietly and most people are strangers to the promise of wild change and radical success. Inhabited by a cackle of characters—a failed poet, an invisible friend, a mother whose cinematic genre of choice is gore and a Gandhian who largely lives within the memory of his only meeting with the great soul—‘Five Grains of Sugar’ follows Rajkumar along a personal journey, rich with the pathos, humour and warm innocence that is often a gradual casualty of city life. This English production is based on Arshia Sattar’s translation from the Hindi original ‘Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane’. Directed by Nirmala Ravindran. Writer, Manav Kaul (translated by Arshia Sattar). Cast, Munish Sharma. 1 hour 10 min.
7.30pm. Ranga Shankara, 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar (26592777). Tickets, Rs100.
RECOMMENDED
DELHI
Music
Alliance Française Golden Jubilee Choir + Mozart Children’s Choir of India
12 December
Choral music by the city groups as part of the Sacred Music Festival section of Delhi International Arts Festival. Both the choirs will be conducted by Gabriella Boda-Rechner. While the Alliance Française choir will only sing in French, the children’s choir will sing Christmas songs from Germany, England, France and India. The latter will include Hindi songs and Marathi bhajans.
6.30pm. Bahà’i House of Worship, behind Nehru Place bus terminal (26444035).
MUMBAI
Around town
Pecha Kucha Night
12 December
What can you do in 6 minutes and 40 seconds? Boil an egg? Listen to Fall Out Boy’s “Nobody puts baby in a Corner" twice over? Maybe you could take one of those power naps corporate executives always talk about, or have a quick shower.
At Jnanapravaha, several people will use their strictly-allotted 400 seconds to make a speech, present a slideshow, talk about their professional interests or share their creative work. They’ll each show 20 images, dwelling on them for 20 seconds each, and will be part of Mumbai’s first-ever ‘Pecha Kucha Night’, an event that promises to be as exciting as its name is intriguing.
Named after the onomatopoeic Japanese work for chit-chat, Pecha Kucha has a show-and-tell format that was developed by Tokyo architectural firm Klein Dytham 2003 for designers to show their work and network without the tedium of a bullet-ridden PowerPoint meeting. Part party, part lecture, a ‘Pecha Kucha Night’ keeps the pace swift, forcing architects, comedians, artists and verbose academics to adapt the message to the medium.
8.20pm. Jnanapravaha, Queens Mansion, third floor, AK Nayak Marg, Fort (22072974/75).
BANGALORE
Photography
Reconciliations
13-30 December
At 10.30pm on 26 November, as Jaishri Abichandani landed in Mumbai off a flight from New York and made her way into the city, she witnessed sights from terror attacks that did reinforce her beliefs as a political artist seeking change, but left her wondering when she’d actually be able to make ‘Reconciliations’—as her new show in Bangalore is titled—a part of reality. In her pictures, Abichandani talks about international disputes, which are basically landscapes of cities in conflict, merged together as one. None of the images at her show are photographs that she shot herself, and are all in fact taken off the Internet. In her work, you’ll find pictures of Havana and Pyong Yang—“basically, Cuba and North Korea, in one image, talking about communism", the slums of Mumbai and the slums of New York—“how they create parallel economies", of Tehran and Karachi and even one of the Silicon Valley of California and that of Bangalore fused together.
10.30am-6pm. 24/10, BTS depot Road, Wilson Garden (2229-2230). Monday-Saturday.
Schedules are subject to change.
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Connect
Know
Want a cheap sugar rush or some cut-price happy carbs in Mumbai? Most bakeries offer discounts a few hours before closing.
Theobroma, Shop No 24, Cusrow Baug, Colaba Causeway, Colaba (67305363). Bread items at half-price after 9pm.
Bombay Baking Company, JW Marriott, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu (66933399). Pastries and bread available at half their price from 8-10pm.
Candies, ONGC Complex, opposite Lilavati Hospital, Bandra (W) (26423512). Also at Ashok Apartments, Union Park, Pali Hill, Bandra (W) (26481686). 25% off on everything after 8pm.
Visit
This unique museum in New Delhi traces the development of sanitation; everything from the origin of the word “loo" (yes, it’s French) to ornate Austrian porcelain jobs, taking in French commodes dressed up to look like English classics—imagine parking it on a leather-bound copy of Macbeth—and, of course, the first flushable indoor toilet invented by the haplessly named Thomas Crapper is covered by the museum, alongside new innovations in the field of sanitation in the country.
Sulabh Gram, Mahavir Enclave, Palam-Dabri Marg, New Delhi (25031518). 10am-5pm, Monday-Saturday.
Buy
Bobble Head, colourful darts, cheery desk decor, dog-chews: what are these? They are only the funkiest pens we have ever seen. Desos, one of south Mumbai’s better garage stores, has recently imported 100 of these quirky bobble-head characters from China. The ones we like: a green-haired, shell-shocked girl, a pouty chick blowing bubblegum pink hearts, a drooling dude with hearts for eyes, and the Godfather of Bobble Head smoking a cigar.
Daily, 11am-8pm. Desos, Advani Chambers, Shop no. 5, ground floor, near Twinkle Stores, Chem’s Corner, 23614553/ 23614552. Rs100 each. (Roshni Bajaj Sanghvi)
Go
Namma Angadi, or “eco store", is the store of the institution CWC and was set up in 1993 in Bangalore to help rural craftsmen. At the store, you’ll find bric-a-brac made of wood and terracotta, handcrafted jewellery, kurtas, rugs, baskets, trays and toys made of bamboo. You can also place orders for the store’s “Lavancha" products (medicinal oils), bottles of raw honey, soapnut powder and ‘kokkum’ (‘punarpuli’) as well.
303/2, KB Shastri Nagar Regional Resource Centre, Vimanapura Post (25234611). By appointment only.
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