Local Artists and Performances

The collection includes hundreds of rare volumes, like the first English translation of Euclid's Geometry (1570), Notitia Vatraqve, a 16th century document in Latin, and Goethe's Faust. They number 2,484 in all and the entire collection occupies more than 4,000 metres of space.

Kolkata's chronicler P Thankappan Nair, who has gone through most of Mookerjee's collections, revealed that it was Iswarchandra Vidyasagar who made a book lover out of Mookerjee. "In 1875, Vidyasagar presented him with Robinson Crusoe," he said.

K K Banerjee, the director of National Library, referred to Mookerjee's collection as a "the jewel box" and "the largest private collection in the country". Gandhi said: "It's extraordinary that National Library has been able to look after this collection."

Baul, which means divinely possessed, is one of the few widely-known folk musical genres of Bengal sung by bards known by the same name. The songs they sing are known as â€oeBaul-gaan (Baul songs)”.

The festival titled `Shikawr' (roots) kicked off Friday evening and is being organised by state-based real estate group Bengal Shelter at `Mohor Kunjo', a citizen's park in south Kolkata.

`It is an attempt to restore baul music that is on verge on extinction like Punjabi Sufi music due to commercialisation of these songs. This is the first time so many bauls have come together for a cause,' Amitabha Basu, one of the initiators of the fest, told IANS Friday evening.

`Baul music is not only West Bengal's, but one of India's oldest folk music. But the present generation has no idea of what original baul music is all about. Instead, they distort the songs by remixing them and singing them against electronic instruments.' Basu said.

The Fuschia Tree would be announcing its entry into the art world on Wednesday by creating a unique mélange of stylishly conceptualised artistic variety in its very first art and décor show titled Mint Green. The show would be on from September 24 to October 8 at The Attic at Regal Building in Connaught Place here and can also be viewed simultaneously on www.thefuschiatree.com.

Says Chanda Chaudhary Barrai, director, The Fuschia Tree, "International trends suggest that Mint Green is the next colour of the season and, therefore, we bring a heady blend of classical, contemporary and cutting edge art and décor elements with international sensibility. By combining the diversity and integrity of art and design, we aim to bring forth enormous creative energy which is unique and irreplaceable in nature. This exhibition fuses the old and the new and crosses over to a new dimension where Indian and international art from Russia, Peru, Botswana, Africa, Pakistan and Thailand, a few to name, will be showcased in a single space."

Since Mint Green is the hottest colour of décor worldwide, the forthcoming exhibition showcases selected 40 artworks from across the globe...all in varying hues of the colour `green'. And the best part is one can exchange the artwork with another as the season or style changes, with a 100 per cent authenticity and resale assurance guarantee!

The fair, which would continue till August 24, is the third in a series of six such fairs during this year.

“Two such fairs were held at the Eastern Zonal CulturalCentre (EZCC) and the rest four would also be held there,” said Micro and Small Scale Enterprises and Textiles Minister Manabendra Mukherjee.

The fair would be held to promote cane, bamboo and wood crafts in the state and is named as “Bengal Cane,Bamboo and Wood Crafts Fair”, said the minister. The first fair was organised in April and covered all major handicrafts products of the state. Nearly 80 artisans from different districts had participated in the fair.

Total sale in the fair was Rs 22.04 lakh, while the artisans got contracts for bulk purchases and exports, he said.

The second fair — ‘Bengal Terracotta Fair’— was organised from May 31 to June 15 for display and sale of terracotta products.

Nearly 70 terracotta artisans had participated in the fair, which saw the total sale of Rs 24.24 lakh. Two workshops on ‘Design Development’ and ‘Export Awareness’ were also organised for the artisans in that fair.

`Jack' is the brainchild of gifted city-based pianist Pradyumna Manot, who has accompanied famous musicians like Pandit Visvamohan Bhatt as the latter played his Mohanveena. Manot is also part of the famous band, Saturday Night Blues, and has interest in Latin jazz.

The play is being directed by Amar Daing, who is well known in the theatre circuit of the city and has also staged plays abroad and the script is written by Chaitanya Manot. There are at least 11 songs in the musical and the choreography has been done by Shruti Mishra.

"We have adopted new techniques in this musical -- the way the stage movements have been designed, the effect of the rotating camera and the special light and sound effects have not been tried out before," promises Pradyumna. He says this musical will inspire many others in the future and soon musicals will become a genre that the city will look forward to every season.

But what was perhaps not anticipated at that point is that the first event to mark this momentous initiative would be a private one.

An art and photo exhibition at Kolkata's Gorky Sadan on January 29, organised jointly by the Russian Centre of Science & Culture and Asia Centre, Kolkata, could well be the first step in implementing this protocol of friendship that was signed in New Delhi a year ago.

"That the Asia Centre, a private non-profit organization, is joining the Russian Centre in organising the event makes it a significant example of a private initiative in public diplomacy," explains K.EY Nair, director, Asia centre, whose personal art collection forms the backbone of the display.

The collection of rare paintings and photographs by Nair during his three visits to remote regions of Siberian Russia gives interesting insights into the uniquely multicultural society that Russia is and is titled 'Colours of Russia (Where Asia meets Europe)'.

Before notifying an SEZ, the Central Board of Approvals, i.e. the Commerce Secretary, 16 other officers of the central government and a nominee of the state government, scrutinises the application. According to these applications, SEZs are expected to generate 2.1 million direct and 2.9 million indirect jobs. These have been widely quoted by the Commerce Ministry in support of SEZs. Are these commitments credible?

At the outset, while data on name, location, area and type is available for all SEZs, availability of other data mandated in the SEZ application, varies widely The most data available is for direct and indirect jobs and investment by developers, and even this is given only for 110, 82 and 109 out of 154 SEZs respectively; and just 15 SEZs provide data on foreign direct investment. This itself makes the approval process appear cavalier, with little real scrutiny.

Second, most SEZs and jobs are in the Information Technology/Information Technology-Enabled Services (ITES) sector Of the 2.1 million direct jobs, 61 per cent in this sector and another 15 per cent is in existing export sectors like apparel, textiles, gems and jewellery footwear and pharmaceuticals. Only 21 per cent is in multiproduct SEZs, the supposed mecca of manufacturing. It thus appears that SEZs merely perpetuate benefits for the IT sector and do little to diversify our exports. Is all this support to already successful industries worth it?

"The auction is tipped to have a spread of about 80-100 lots covering modern and contemporary artists. We have begun sourcing works from collectors who are based in different parts countrywide.

The auction will be held on February 16. This will be when it will go on floor and held live. But, the bidding process will be rolled out online five days in advance. Thus, the sale is targeted to embrace bidders from India and around the world," Vikram Bachhawat, director, Emami Chisel Art, told ET.

"Permission is granted to hold the fair just a few days before Dipawali. However, owing to the shortage of time, we have not been able to put in place the necessary infrastructure to our satisfaction," said Indrajit Buddhiraja, President of Burrabazar Fireworks Dealers Association.

The restrictions introduced by the Pollution Control Board (PCB) have re duced the sales and hit firework dealers in the city badly, he said.

"This year the decibel limit has been brought down to 90 from last year's 130 decibel. Compared to other states, this limit is lower by 30 decibel. In states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other north-western states, where Dipawali is celebrated in full swing, the permissible limit is over 120 decibels," rued Buddhiraja.

The campus will be set to play host to two foremost exponents of the Benares gharana vocal tradition over two days - October 24 and 25. The programme will be held at the Management Centre for Human Values (MCHV) Seminarium, at IIM Calcutta.

The first evening will have a performance by the brothers Rajan and Sajan Mishra, recepients of the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1998 and the coveted Sanskrit Award for musical excellence from the Prime Minister of India.

This troubles Olaf Van Cleef, now on his 47th visit to India. For this painter from Paris, "Delhi is the city of babus, Bombay of Bollywood stars, while Kolkata is the city of Tagore, Aurobindo, Vivekananda, Ramakrishna." Kumartuli, College Street, Ganga ghat, "these spell a classy lifestyle," says Olaf who, as advisor to Cartier on high jewellery, would mostly meet the royal India. "Now I want to do things for the forgotten India," he announces.

His intimacy with India took another turn last year with an exhibition in Chennai. Now it's growing towards his first show in this city of forgotten palaces, come January.

The paintings he's showing in Chennai, Pondicherry or Kolkata have been "specially done" for India. "With Swarovsky diamonds," adds Olaf. With spots, circles, squares, oblongs, zigzags, triangles, dots and dashes, the painted surface could well be the layout for a carpet or a royal garden. "I inherited a rich carpet from my grandfather and I'd spend hours looking at it. That may be the source of my inspiration!" And the garden? "Well, my first job was designing gardens!"

Interestingly, Olaf 's work is reminiscent of tribal art from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthani miniatures. But Olaf puts his signature by designing these so as to add up to an elephant, monkey, tiger, parrot, Jagannath or Kali.

Why does Olaf still evoke India through these stereotypical images? "Because of Kipling!" he responds. "Jungle Book was my most precious possession as a child. And by painting Sher Khan and Balu and Ka, I return to my childhood."

After a successful run for six years flat, this year the Paschim Banga Natya Academy has big plans for the Natya Mela or the Theatre Festival to be held from November 23 to 30. The Natya Mela is usually held immediately after the conclusion of the Kolkata Film Festival.

The Natya Mela, organised by the Paschim Banga Natya Academy, will see leading theatre companies from in and around Kolkata taking part in it. "We will allow small theatre companies to participate in the forum so that they can showcase their theatrical talents. There are two theatre companies from Bangladesh. We have a sister concern of the German Flying Fish Theatre Company coming from Germany. The original company participated in the festival last year," said Sukanto Ray, secretary of the Paschim Banga Natya Academy (PBNA).

The PBNA is a subsidiary of the Information and Cultural Department under the West Bengal government and looks after the welfare and development of theatre in the state. Last year, around 100 theatre companies participated in the festival. "This year, we expect the same number of theatre companies coming in or even more," said Ray.

The 13 cartoonists featured in the serial are Abu Abraham, R.K. Laxman, Mario Miranda, K. Shankar Pillai, Bapu, Gopulu, Ajit Ninan, E.P. Unny, Suresh Sawant, Sushil Kalra, Vijay Narain Seth or Vins, B.V. Ram Murthy and Prabhakar Wairkar.

Doordarshan Director General Leeladhar Mandloi said the broadcaster had paid Rs 30 lakh for the serial, which has been telecast several times on TV and had been acclaimed by UNESCO as DD's best in 2003.

The producer of the serial, Hyderabad-based cartoonist and comedy film maker S.B. Shankar Kumar, popularly called Sanku, told the Hindustan Times:

"It is a big achievement for Doordarshan because no other DD serial has ever been on display round the clock for 30 days at an international event. It is a great honour for Indian cartoonists. Besides, Indian cartoons are also on display at an exhibition called `India at a Glance'. Sanku leaves for the Frankfurt book fair as a special invitee on Wednesday.

"I wanted to do a serial on cartoonists because they are introverts and do not like to speak about themselves and their art," he said.

Imagine an eight-year-old physically-challenged child colouring a flower with his feet and a mentally-challenged child colouring a house in warm colours of red and yellow.

Today at Victoria Memorial Hall, 60 children - some mentally and physically challenged and some from the slums and streets of Kolkata - along with some more children, all got together to participate in a two-day long art camp, called Colours for Tomorrow.

The camp aims at developing and spreading art among children and to prevent them from taking to anti-social activities. Children who come from disturbed family backgrounds have a tendency to fall into such activities. And according to a theory, children who are involved in art and painting are less likely to involve themselves in other activities. So we are trying to develop a love for colours in these young minds, said Goutam Das, the secretary of the NGO.

Around 300 students were chosen in the preliminary rounds held at the four institutes which includes Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Alipore Girls and Boys School, Reads, an NGO for street children and Riddhi, another city-based NGO for children.

These paintings give us a peep into the child's world. A child here, Niraj, had coloured a black sky with a smiling red sun. Its shows how distressed he is but still he has not lost hope, said Durbanada Jana, an artist who was sitting with the children at the camp.

He was 84.

Mukherjee was admitted to the Leelavati hospital in June in critical condition following chronic renal failure, pneumonia and sepsis, hospital sources said, He had been coming to the hospital regularly for dialysis. The end came at 1630 hours.

Mukherjee's funeral is likely to be held tomorrow or day after tomorrow on return of his son from the United States.