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PremiumInvoking the divine: Bhakti Utsav in New Delhi.
DELHI
Music
Bhakti Utsav
3-5 April
This annual festival is the only one of its kind in the country that is dedicated to devotional music in its myriad forms. Organized by Seher, this year’s event will feature devotional music of amazing variety, cutting across regions, sects and faiths. The music on offer ranges from Sanskrit chants to ‘bhajans’ in the folk and popular tradition; ‘Sufiana qawwalis’ to Baul songs; ‘dhrupad’ and verses by Kabir, Sur, Tulsi and Meera to Carnatic devotional compositions. For more information, log on to www.sehernow.in
6.30pm. Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri, entrance from Niti Marg.
9 April
A well-known tenor on the European stage, Anando Mukerjee will perform recitals of arias, ‘lieder’, melodies and ‘cançiones’, accompanied by pianist Steven Maughan of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
6.30pm. Kamani auditorium, 1, Copernicus Marg (23388084).
Canticle Choir
5 April
The Canticle Choir is a church-based group of singers that has been performing regularly in the city since 2005, every Christmas and Easter season. This year’s Easter concert is titled ‘Risen Indeed’.
7.30pm. Amaltas Hall, Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (43663333).
Auer String Quartet
8 April
Vilmos Oláh (first violin), Gábor Berán (second violin), Csaba Gálfi (viola) and Ákos Takács (cello) comprise the Auer String Quartet, which was formed in 1990. The Hungarian ensemble takes its name from their compatriot, world-famous Hungarian violinist and pedagogue Leopold Auer (1845-1930). The quartet will present a concert of works by Joseph Haydn, László Lajtha and Mendelssohn on the occasion of Haydn’s 200th death anniversary.
6.30pm. Auditorium, India International Centre, 40, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate (24619431).
Art
Solo Show
Ongoing
A retrospective of French photographer Marc Riboud’s work. The show is presented by Tasveer.
Something that marks his body of work is the extent of his wanderings. In 30-odd years of travelling by chance and contrivance, Riboud happened to visit many nations which were either in turmoil or on the brink of it. He had a prolonged engagement with China, and was in fact one of the first European photographers to visit the country in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. He also recorded its transformation as a country emerging from the Mao era.
Riboud also journeyed extensively across Africa, and was one of the few photographers to travel through the continent during the transition to independence in countries such as Algeria, Nigeria, the Congo and Ghana. In the 1960s and 1970s, Riboud toured North Vietnam, witnessing war crimes and atrocities and chronicling the impact of the war from both sides, Vietnam and the US.
11am-7pm, daily. Gallery Art Motif, F-213C, Lado Sarai (42664343).
Kids
Pu, Wies, Crayons and a Big Picnic
4 April
For a change, your youngest one will not feel left out when the older sibling beams on her way out to a workshop. At this picnic, there’s plenty planned for children who are 18 months and above.
Author and publisher Kim Barrington Narisetti’s Urban Crayon Press will pitch camp under the trees by the big tomb at Lodhi Gardens. If that isn’t enough, there’ll be storytelling by Narisetti, and drawing workshops. While illustrator Tina Rajan will take kids through step-by-step sketches of Delhi monuments from the sketchbook ‘I Saw Delhi’, they can also draw their own scenes from the book. Duration: 1 hour, 15 min for each age group. Ages 18 months-4 years at 10.30am; 5+ years at 11.30am.
Gate No. 1, Lodhi Gardens. For registration, visit www.urbancrayonpress.com and scroll to the bottom of the homepage for details. Charges, Rs100, which includes a snack and drawing material.
Theatre
Three
4-5 April
Three is three plays in one— each with a different setting and each dealing with various issues.
In the first vignette, called ‘The Circus’, two clowns grapple with the monotony of their lives. The second, ‘That Makes Two of Us’, has two beings from two separate planets meeting in open space.
The last, ‘The Masked Man’, blurs the differences between good and evil through the story of one man.
7.30pm. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (43663333). Tickets, Rs100, available at the venue.
Dance
Giselle Ki Kahani
5 April
‘Giselle Ki Kahani’, directed by puppeteer Varun Narain, is a contemporary Indian puppetry and ballet version of the Western classical ballet ‘Giselle’. Dancer Rea Krishnatraye will perform alongside life-sized puppets to tell a story of love, betrayal and revenge in this 100-minute production.
Noon & 7.30pm. Epicentre, Apparel House, Sector 44, Gurgaon (95124-2715000). Tickets, Rs200, available at the venue.
MUMBAI
Valay Shende Show
Ongoing
Valay Shende’s sculptures are meant to remind you of the other India. As a statement against our indifference to suicides by farmers in Vidarbha, he has crafted an elaborate dining table whose centrepieces, the salt and pepper shakers, are filled with the ashes of farmers who died producing food for the table. Brass buffaloes pay tribute to the rural side of the metropolis. The exhibition also presents a series on Mumbai’s famed ‘dabbawalas’ comprising numerous deftly crafted life-size figures made of small clocks. Titled ‘Management Gurus’, Shende applauds them for their error-free and punctual service across the city for over a century.
11am-7pm, Monday-Saturday. Sakshi Gallery, Tanna House, 11A, Nathalal Parekh Marg, near Regal cinema, Colaba (66103424).
Nightlife
MIDIval Punditz + Karsh Kale
3 April
10.30pm. Blue Frog, Todi & Co, Mathuradas Mills Compound, opposite Kamala Mills, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel (40332300). Rs500.
Bandra bar crawl
4 April
On entertainment website Best of Bombay’s bar crawl, you get a drinking permit on a yellow slip of paper and a large drink at each of the pit stops on the tour. The crawl is the brainchild of Aditi Shah, city tour organizer and founder of Bestofbombay.com. Her latest venture aims to bring “what is widely accepted around the world as one of the best ways to get a taste of a city’s nightlife" to Mumbai. It’s also a great way to get smashed with strangers.
Call Aditi Shah on 9619207356 or log on to Bestofbombay.com to register.
Film
The Son’s Room
5 April
The first half-hour or so of Nanni Moretti’s Palme d’Or winner paints an unsentimental portrait of an ordinary, almost complacently happy family in a small Italian coastal town. Then the unthinkable occurs. The teenage son dies in a diving accident, and his parents and sister find themselves so distracted by guilt, anger and confusion that they start drifting apart. Then an unexpected letter arrives for the boy from a girlfriend they never even knew existed. Subtle, psychologically astute and engagingly unassertive in tone, the film builds gently but surely to an emotionally powerful climax in which the family—especially the psychiatrist father (Moretti)—is forced to reassess everything they ever put their faith in.
1.30pm. Zenzi, opposite ICICI Bank, Waterfield Road, off Linking Road, Bandra (W) (66430670).
Beyond The Clouds
6 April
Michelangelo Antonioni’s film is European art cinema as it used to be: composed, stately, meditative and formal in every sense. The film tells four stories—four potential films in the mind of director John Malkovich (the linking material is by Wim Wenders)—in Italian, English, French, music and silence. Four brief encounters are imbued with concerted philosophical and spiritual gravitas by the grace and patience of the camera.
8.15pm. Bootleggers, Shop 3-4, Pipewalla Building, 4th Pasta Lane, opposite Camy Wafer, Colaba (22020455).
Anusaran
7 April
It’s been five years since the death of Kelucharan Mohapatra, who single-handedly brought Odissi to the international stage. But in Mumbai, where Mohapatra has left behind a host of acolytes, the memories from his annual workshop at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the rich repertoire he created still keeps dancers going. This fortnight, his senior students— Debi Basu, Jhelum Paranjpe, Anandi Ramchandran and Mashruwala—converge on stage to show his work in ‘Anusaran’.
6.30pm. Pranganga, Bhavan’s College Campus, Munshi Nagar, Andheri (W) (26237454).
BANGALORE
Art
Six Drops
9 April-25 May
In ‘Six Drops’, Shetty explores a sense of loss which he explains in a series of emails sent from Gem Museum of Contemporary Art in Den Haag, Netherlands (where he’s currently showing works alongside Jitish Kallat and Riyas Komu, in a show titled ‘India Contemporary’). “The work focuses on virtual movement," says Shetty. “The artist’s vital fluids drop on to the museum’s floor", which suggests a certain “shedding and letting go", and “the work signifies what must be let go, but only in order to build something". “These six drops represent the six mythical enemies within the self and the role of life as one to shed them," says Shetty, and that transformation denotes the revitalization, both of “the artistic self" and “the institutional realm". Visit www.galleryske.com for details.
11am-7pm, Galleryske, 82, Presidency, St Mark’s Road (65951972). Tuesday closed. Sunday, by appointment only.
3-5 April
An exhibition and sale of paintings hosted by Art Mantram in support of the challenged girl child by a group of artists including Rajesh Baderia, B.D. Dethan, M.G. Doddamani, G. Gangadharan, Sirpi Jayaraman, Mohan Kumar, M.N. Moorthy, Milind Nayak, Padman, G. Raman, Lal Ratnakar and Ramesh Terdal. The show opens at 7.30pm.
11am-7.30pm. Istana, Ista, 1/1, Swami Vivekananda Road, Ulsoor (25558888).
The Big Picture
4-8 April
An art exhibition and sale to raise funds for India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), including the works of 57 artists, such as K.G. Anto Parvez Ahmed, Debasis Barui, Nirmala Biluka, Navroze Contractor, Saibal Das, Samit Das, Soumen Das, Shahid Datawala, Rajib De, Fawzan Husain, Zakkir Hussain, Ryan Lobo, Vinay Mahidhar, Keiko Mima, Pratap Modi, Jayanta Mondal, Uday Mondal, Swapan Nayak, Harsha NS, Prashant Panjiar, Zubin Pastakia, Jasmeen Patheja, Raghu Rai, Prasanta Sahu, Ravi Shankar and Yusuf. It is curated by Abhishek Poddar. The show opens at WelcomArt Gallery at 7pm on Saturday, and continues till Wednesday before moving to Gallery Sumukha. The e-catalogue of the show can be accessed at www.indiaifa.org.
11am-8pm, daily. WelcomArt Gallery, ITC Windsor, 25, Windsor Square, Golf Course Road (22202232).
Beyond the Land of Hattamala
3-4 April
Directed by Vivek Vijaykumaran. Writer: Badal Sircar.
Theatre, for Sircar, always had didactic obligations. Scripted at a time when his new ideas were in foment, ‘Hattamallar Opare’ is a fairy tale of sorts in a re-imagined world free from the din of money.
This fortnight, Our Theatre, a fledgling city group, will essay the play in an English adaptation called ‘Beyond the Land of Hattamala’.
7.30pm. Ranga Shankara. 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar (26592777). Tickets, Rs100.
Poetry & Readings
Fishmarket
4 April
Fishmarket is a concept started by Mayflower Media House to provide writers, artists and anyone with a creative bent of mind a space to showcase talent. The event is also a chance for artists to engage in discussions with their audience. For details, contact Sreeja V.N. on 9449865391.
6-7.30pm. Mayflower Media House, Unit 5, First Floor, 1, Yamunabai Road, Madhava Nagar (22374436).
Dance
Bharatanatyam
4 April
Divya Prabhakar, a student of Revathi Narasimhan from city dance company Natya Niketan, will be performing pieces in the traditional format of Bharatanatyam, beginning with the ‘pushpanjali’ (an invocatory piece) and ending with the ‘thillana’ (a pure dance sequence).
6pm. Indian Institute of World Culture, BP Wadia Road, Basavanagudi (26678581).
CONNECT
Visit
That old ‘theka’ (liquor outlet) in the Bombay Life Insurance Building in New Delhi has undergone a bit of a transformation. Shauque joins the ranks of the glitzy Greater Kailash wine and beer shops with the addition of a wine section, air conditioning and fancy displays. The shop is pleasant to walk around in and is well-stocked, especially its whiskies. The shelves could be more packed, though, and better organized, especially the wines (the foreign ones’ve been relegated to a user-unfriendly wooden rack).
Shauque Liquor Shop, Bombay Life building, N-Block, Connaught Place, Middle Circle, New Delhi (23311281).
— Sonal Shah
Book
Dragonfly, the Nariman Point lounge that opened in Mumbai in July, is no longer open to the public. The bar and restaurant will now offer only banqueting services for private parties, conferences and events. Dragonfly Banquets offers Indian, Thai, Chinese and Continental menus, and rooms to accommodate 35-650 people in a variety of seating plans. The company also has tie-ups with DJs and party decorators.
Express Towers, first floor, opposite Oberoi Hotel, Nariman Point , Mumbai (6620-8000/8001). Rs750 and above per head.
Talk
Encapsulating the trendy new gastrogeek speak:
Spherification: The gelification of a liquid which, when submerged in a bath, forms spheres. These techniques can be employed to obtain spheres of different foods: caviar, eggs, gnocchi, ravioli…
Foam: Natural flavours such as fruit juices or savory essences are mixed with a gelling agent such as agar and dispensed through a whipped cream canister. Foams are “airy", with the flavour taking precedence over texture.
Deconstruction: A presentation where a familiar dish, such as a salad, is broken into individual ingredients and put together in varying and new textures.
— Karuna John
Walk
Every Sunday, at 7am, Vijay Thiruvadi leads his group on the Green Walk in Bangalore’s Lal Bagh, stopping every now and then to introduce the Ficus and the frangipanis. Let Thiruvadi bring you up to speed on Lal Bagh’s trees and plants: the araucarias from Chile, the candle tree, the elephant apple, the lush rain tree and exotic palms.
Vijay Thiruvadi (9845068416, www.bangalorewalks.com). 7-10am, Sunday. Assemble at the base of Lal Bagh rock.
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