Of human bondage Adapted from the Marathi play, Mitra, by Shirish Athwale, Gandhar’s latest production, Kachher Manush, is an intense and touching story of human relationships. It is the story of the protagonist’s ultimate realisation of the oneness of man’s soul, as British poet Robert Browning once said, ...in earth the broken arks, in heaven the perfect round.. What is heaven? We know not. Perhaps it is here we can make our own heaven if we erase the fragments that constitute each of us. Dadasaheb Purohit is an old widower. Honest, idealistic, and outspoken, Purohit is conventional in his staunch hatred for dalits, the lower-caste. His children have inherited the same beliefs, but are removed as they remain pre-occupied with their own lives. They are emotionally detached from him. Dadasaheb protests against the violence indulged in by the dalits, who resort to these activities when disrespect is shown to the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar, their messiah. In the ensuing trouble, Dadasaheb is assaulted and this leaves him paralysed. Rendered helpless, Dadasaheb finds little willingness on the part of his children to do anything for him: his son, in spite of knowing his hatred for dalits, is forced to hurriedly appoint experienced dalit physiotherapist Savitribai Rupvate to help him recover. He cannot accept it and erupts every now and then. But as he gets better, he gradually learns to depend on his only companion — Rupvate. He is cured not only of the paralysis, but also of his equally paralysing prejudices. The play is adapted into Bengali by Kamal Sanyal and Bijoylakshmi Barman. Direction: Gautam Halder, filmmaker. Event: Play in Bengali, Kachher Manush, produced by Gandhar When: Today at 3 pm Where: Academy of Fine Arts

art

November 10 - 16 at Acadmy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A solo exhibition of watercolours by Sanjoy Banerjee. Till November 10 at G.C. Laha Gallery, Laha Paint House, 7 Chittaranjan Avenue; 3 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of Joy Bhaduri’s works. Till November 10 at Gallery Exposure, 54B Mahanirban Road; 1 pm - 8 pm: Masters, Different Strokes — featuring works by Jogen Chowdhury, Bijon Chaudhury, Manoj Dutta, Paritosh Sen, Prakash Karmakar, Robin Mandal, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Suhas Roy and Suman Roy. Till November 11 at Artists Circle, 46 Circus Avenue, #22833176; 2 pm - 7 pm: The Deities, a show by senior contemporary artists in celebration of Diwali. Participating artists: Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Geeta Maity, Sajal Kanti Mitra, Biswajit Mondal, Bratin Khan, Saroj Sarkar, Subrata Pal, Snehangshu Sekhar Das, Sukti Subhra Pradhan, Prabal Roy, Sanjiv Narayan Dutta and Arun Mondal. Till November 11 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Creation presents In Interaction with Identity, an exhibition of paintings by Partho Dutta, Arun Jana, Dolly Dutta and Manik Kandar. Till November 12 (except Sunday) at Gallery K2, Supra Court, 35 Lansdowne Terrace, #24651444; 11 am - 7 pm: Icons, Idols, Inamoratas, an exhibition of paintings by Ganesh C. Basu, Sukumar Bhattacharjee, Dipak Mukherjee, Dilip Guchait and Satyajit Roy. Till November 14 at Aakriti Art Gallery (sculpture wing), 12/3A Hungerford Street, #32998525; 3 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of sculptures by Niranjan Pradhan. Till November 15 at Gallery 79, 79 Raja Basanta Roy Road: An exhibition of watercolours by Shyamal Sen. Till November 17 (except Sunday) at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani, #22902274; 3 pm - 7 pm: Works in handmade paper by Anupam Chakraborty. Till November 18 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #22893027; 3 pm - 7 pm: Paintings by Sekhar Roy. Till November 18 at Samokal Art Gallery, Gol Park, #9836276110; 4 pm - 8 pm: Crosscurrents, Crosstalk: The Politics of Location, a group show curated by Nanak Ganguly. Featuring works by Anita Chakraborty, Krishnapriyo Dasgupta, Kayas Saha, Robin Roy, Partha Roy Tom, Rajarshi Chattopadhyay, Siddhartha Ghosh, Nabonita Chakraborty, Santanu Mitra, Sanjoy Bose, Soumitra Sengupta, Sukumar Bhattacharjee, Tanmoy Biswas, Tanmay Santra and Timir Brahma. Till November 18 at Gallery Yapanchitra, Flat 12 / 1A, Lift No. 2, 3 rd Floor, Stephen Court, 18 Park Street; 11 am - 7 pm: The Eye Within and Gallery Yapanchitra present an exhibition of paintings, titled Puja. Till November 25 at Genesis Art Gallery, 8B Middleton Street; 2 pm - 7.30 pm: Divine Lovers, a solo exhibition of recent paintings of the Radha-Krishna series by Nitya Kundu. Till November 26 at Gallery Nakshatra, 2/1 Outram Street, 2nd floor, #22892928; 12 noon - 7.30 pm: A Route to Eternity, a journey of Indian art from 1960s to 2007. Showcasing works by Avijit Dutta, Bratin Khan, Dhiraj Chowdhury, Manoj Dutta, R. Muralidharan, Prakash Karmakar, Prasenjit Sengupta, Partha Bhattacharjee, Ramananda Bandopadhyay, Shyamal Dutta Roy, Suhas Roy, Suman Roy, Sunil Das, Shuvaprasanna, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Sekhar Kar, Shipra Bhattacharjee, Sanatan Dinda, T. Vaikuntham and Wasim Kapoor. Till November 30 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, #65508418; 10.30 am - 7.30 pm: Celebrations on Canvas, showcasing Indian art and sculpture by Gourango Beshai, Suhas Roy, Prokash Karmakar, Sanatan Dinda, Bratin Khan, Sibsaday, Subrata Pal, Tapas Sardar, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Kartick Pyne, Samir Paul, Sukanta Das, Subrata Das and others.

PERFORMING ARTS

November 11 at Kala Mandir; 6.30 pm: In aid of needy artistes, Nari Kalyan Udyog presents a solo recital by Kabir Suman.

DRAMA

November 10 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Gandhar will launch its latest production, Kachher Manush. Playwright: Dr Shirish Athwale (Marathi). Translated into Bengali by Kamal Sanyal and Bijoylakshmi Barman. Direction: Goutam Halder. November 10 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Nandikar presents Abanindranath Tagore’s Bappaditya. Performance by Sohini Sengupta. Drama, music & direction: Goutam Halder. November 10 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.45 pm: Arghya will stage Tagore’s Rakta Karabi. Direction: Manish Mitra. November 11 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Niva Arts and Lok-Krishti present Krishna Gahwar. Drama, direction & acting: Bratya Basu.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till November 11 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Jara Parijaee presents Landscapes, an exhibition of photographs by Soumitra Datta.

EXHIBITION

Till November 17 (except Sundays & holidays) at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani, #22902274; 3 pm - 7 pm: Works in handmade paper by Anupam Chakraborty.

FESTIVAL

Till November 16 at Sri Ganesh and Sri Murugan Temples, 58/14/3 & 6 Prince Anwar Shah Road, #24175058: Skanda Shasti Festival. Today at 9 am: Moolavar, Mahaabhishekam and Deeparadhani; at 6 pm: Angurarpanam, Yagasalai Puja begins, Yagavikshinyam, Nava Sandhi, Poornahuti, Deeparadhanai (Kaalam-I), Procession. Tomorrow at 7 am: Yagasalai Puja, Poornahuti, Deeparadhanai (Kaalam-II), at 9.30 am: Moolavar and Mahaabhishekam; at 5.30 pm: Yagasalai Puja, Yagavikshinyam, Poornahuti, Deeparadhanai (Kaalam-III); at 8.30 pm: Procession. November 11 at Saastha Sammoham, 42 Lake Avenue; 9.30 am: Saastha Preethi - Bhajan by Sri Balu Guruswamy and party. Conducted by Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sangham.

TALK

November 10 at Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, 8 Shakespeare Sarani; 6 pm: A lecture by Dr Karan Singh, MP. November 10 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Swami Purnananda will speak in Bengali on Vedanter Aloke Jishukhrishta.

PUPPET SHOW

November 10, 11 & 14 at Thakurpukur Cancer Hospital (children’s ward); 10 am: A programme on puppet show and children’s puppet workshop, to be conducted and directed by Dilip Mondal. Hosted by Dhumketu Puppet Theatre and Matri Social and Cultural Organisation.

READING

November 11 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 11 am: Professor P. Lal reads Sanjaya's report of Dhristadyumna afraid of guru Kripa's offensive, Kritavarman defeating Sikhandin, Arjuna killing Srutanjaya, Sausruti, Chandradatta, Satyasena and routing the Samsaptakas, while Yudhisthira defeats Duryodhana, in the 398th weekly session of his sloka-by-sloka English transcreation of Vyasa's Mahabharata.

QUIZ

November 18 at Gyan Manch; 10.30 am onwards: Puffin-Starmark Inter-School Quiz 2007 for three-member teams from leading Calcutta schools. Details at #22822617/18.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001, Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244