(From top): Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Jasraj at Yogdaan; Ruskin Bond and Ganesh Saili at the launch of Ruskin: Our Enduring Bond; Sekhar Roy with one of his paintings at the Arushi art gallery; Murli Karthik and a CRY official at the cricket awards ceremony

Music to the ears

It was an event that attracted some of the biggest names in Indian classical music. They all came together at the Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya in Dadar, Mumbai to raise money for the victims of the tsunami tragedy. Promoted by Zakir Hussain Promotions and Pancham Nishad Creatives, the concert titled Yogdaan, turned out to be a thumping success with a whopping Rs 13 lakh being collected from ticket sales. The amount will be sent to the Prime Minister?s Relief Fund.

Responding enthusiastically to Ustad Zakir Hussain?s initiative, artists from all over the country participated in the concert that saw the audience, performers and even the media purchasing tickets before entering the venue. The artist community was out in full force with over 20 luminaries taking time out from their busy schedules to put on a scintillating show for the 3,500 fans in attendance.

Among the artists who enthralled music lovers were Sangeet Martand Pt Jasraj, Gaansaraswati Kishori Amonkar, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Sultan Khan, Ustad Rais Khan, Pt Suresh Talwalkar, Shankar Mahadevan, Satish Vyas, Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Pt Ajay Pohankar, Taufiq Qureshi, Ganesh and Kumaresh and Ulhas Kashalkar.

The music apart, one of the highlights of the show was Pt Jasraj donating Rs 1 lakh on the spot for the tsunami victims. All in all, a great effort on the part of the Indian music fraternity and music-lovers to chip in for a good cause.

Bonding with Bond

I have always believed that writers should be read and not heard or seen, but times have changed, and here I am,? said Ruskin Bond at the launch of a biography on his life by friend Ganesh Saili. Ruskin, Our Enduring Bond, priced at Rs 395, traces Bond?s childhood and starts from the first time his parents met.

?The book has a letter which my father had written to me. And that happens to be the only letter of his left with me. When I was in boarding school, my headmaster looked after them, but all of them were lost subsequently with the exception of this one,? recalled Bond.

Saili, a professor of English and American literature at a Mussoorie college, goes back a long way with Bond ? as much as 35 years. ?Victor Banerjee, Ruskin and I have enjoyed the charm of the hills together,? said Saili. Bond believes that as life progresses and he ages, he finds everything funny.

During the course of the evening, Bond confessed he?s always wanted to write a thriller but has never been able to. ?I started writing a detective story once, but I was told that it was easy to figure out who the culprit was.?

The fire blazing in the middle of the terrace of Olive Bar and Kitchen added a merry touch to the chilly winter evening, as trays of lamb chops and glasses of wine made the rounds, completing the rosy picture.

Batting for a cause

The aftermath of the tsunami has shown that Indians ? even ones who aren?t that affluent ? are willing to dig deep into their pockets. But there are other charities and people who are still working for other causes. The CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge Awards ceremony held at The Oberoi, Delhi was one event that managed to mix a good time with a good cause.

This was the fifth Cry Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge. In a playing season spread over the last few months, 40 Indian corporates took part in a cricket tournament that saw customer service major EXL walking away with the trophy while Citi Financial was the runner-up. The money generated in sponsorships and auctions from this effort was donated to CRY, the NGO working for underprivileged children since 1979.

At the event, a range of cricket memorabilia was auctioned. The items going under the hammer included two bats signed by the entire Indian cricket team which went for Rs 12,500 and Rs 10,000 each. Caps signed by Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sewhwag brought in Rs 7,000. At the occasion, noted cartoonist Sudhir Tailang sketched four on-the-spot caricatures of Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi and L K Advani. Not just ordinary caricatures, though ? the mighty foursome were sketched in cricket gear.

While one of the caricatures was auctioned for Rs 30,000, the other three will be on auction at another soon-to-be-held CRY event. CRY has already collected a total of Rs 1.28 lakh through the participation of 32 teams in Delhi and eight teams in Chandigarh. The money will be used for around 1,600 children.

Taking part were cricketers Murli Karthik and Ashish Nehra, besides veteran cricketers Bishen Singh Bedi, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chetan Chauhan. Fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani added a touch of glamour and was seen chatting animatedly with CRY CEO Ingrid Srinath. A few more such heart-warming events, and the chill of Delhi socialite evenings may even thaw a bit.

A brush with art

It was a journey back in time for Calcutta-based artist Sekhar Roy. The artist who exhibited at Delhi?s Arushi art gallery last week said that his latest works have been influenced by childhood dreams and fantasies, which explains the dream-like effect of all his works.

Though the works can be put into two distinct categories, the paintings retain his overwhelmingly grayish scale-colours that are tinged with sadness. One category gradually becomes more colourful and there are a lot yellows in conjunction with leafy greens and romantic blues. The artist who has been showing in Delhi for over a decade now will dedicate a part of the earnings from his exhibition to the rehabilitation of the tsunami victims.

Photographs by Gajanan Dudhalkar and Rupinder Singh