Reverberating music when voices die Among the contemporary Indian authors writing in English, Amit Chaudhuri is definitely very popular despite his limited number of novels (The Immortals, being his fifth in a decade). He arrived on the literary scene with a bang with his very first book, A Strange and Sublime Address, which won the first prize in the Betty Trask Awards, the Commonwealth writers prize for Best First Book in 1992. His Afternoon Raag won the 1993 Southern Arts Literature Prize and the Encore Award for best second novel. His fifth novel, The Immortals (just published to immense critical acclaim in the UK) has been lapped up by readers there. In fact, Eileen Battersby recently wrote in the Irish Times: “Even in the context of contemporary Indian writing in English, much of which is outstanding, Chaudhuri is the best. His fifth novel, The Immortals, shows that his fiction, which draws on themes of family and time, is as real as it is beautiful.” Written in haunting, melodic prose, The Immortals tells the story — or stories — of Shyam, Mallika and Nirmalya; their relationships, their lives, their music. More than that, though, it is the story of music as art, and an exploration of its place in the modern world of money and commerce. Published by Picador, the book will be formally released by eminent poet Utpal Kumar Basu. Sujata Sen, director of British Council (East India) will do the introductions while Swapan Chakravorty will conduct an interactive session with the author. Hosted by Starmark in association with British Council. lEvent: Release of Amit Chaudhuri’s book, The Immortals lWhen: Today at 7 pm lWhere: Starmark, City South Mall

Art

May 5 - 10 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 2nd floor; 4 pm - 8 pm: Scarlet Palette presents an exhibition of paintings by Jayanta Mukherjee, Saroj Sarkar, Biswarup Garai, Naba Kr. Chakrabarty, Badal Pal and Tapan Das. May 5 - 16 at Karma Art Gallery, 505 Keyatala Road, #9830005441; 11 am - 7 pm: Art Perfection presents Drishti, a solo exhibition of painting and sculpture by Raj Rishi. Inauguration by Anup Jalota today at 6 pm. Till May 6 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Madhumita Das Gupta as part of Kolkata Kala Kendra’s 9th annual group exhibition of art and craft. Till May 8 at Chemould Art Gallery, 12F Park Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Recent drawings and paintings by Ujjwal Debnath, Sujit Kumar Ghosh, Indranil Ghosh, Kushal Mukherjee, Basudeb Sarkar and Chandan Mandal. Till May 8 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Skill of Creation — an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Ranjan Paul, Arpita Kar, Sukla Bhattacharya, Dipnarayan Paul and Moumita Sarkar. Till May 8 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South Gallery ‘A’; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Arati Das, Pinak Pani Nath and Tanmoy Naskar. Till May 8 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South-B; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Animesh Nandi, Sankar Mondal, Bela Karmakar, Sujit Das, Debangshu Das, Santanu Chatterjee and Abhijit Mollick. Till May 9 at the Promenade Lounge, Taj Bengal: The Vase and The Warriors of Love, a solo show of new works by Italian artist Tarshito. Till May 10 at Shree Art Gallery, 11 Gurusaday Road, Kusum Apartments, Flat no. 61, #9903235566; 3 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of exclusive paintings by Milanendu Mandal and other eminent artists of Bengal. Till May 15 at Gallery with Difference, 152 S.P. Mukherjee Road, near Rashbehari crossing: Narrative Movements 2009 — a group exhibition of art, curated by Bibekananda Santra. Till May 15 (except Sunday and holidays) at Eye on Art Gallery, 3 Pretoria Street, 2nd floor; 12 noon - 8 pm: Forms of Narration, featuring the works of Arnab Mukherjee, Arpita Pradhan, Biswajit Mukherjee, Nandita Mukherjee, Subha Basu, Sudipta Dutta, Sumana Biswas, Sumana Ghosh, Sushmita Rakshit and Utpal Dutta. Till May 17 (except Mondays and May 13) at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 1st floor; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of artworks and photographs by Satyajit Ray, entitled Rayimages. Till May 17 (except Sundays & holidays) at Museum & Art Gallery, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park; 10.30 am - 1 pm & 2.30 pm - 6 pm: Glimpses of Ancient India — paintings by Prabhatmohan Bandyopadhyay (1904-1987). Till May 20 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 2 pm - 8 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts presents Somnath Hore: Bronzes, Drawings, Watercolours — an exhibition of the works of Somnath Hore. Till May 23 at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road, #98300 15854; 11 am - 8 pm (Monday to Saturday): Tell-Tale: Fiction, Falsehood & Fact 2 — contemporary artist’s narrative perspective on stories and storytellers. Featuring works by Amritah Sen, Anupam Chakraborty, Rajesh Deb, Sarnath Banerjee and Sujay Mukherjee. Curated by Dr Paula Sengupta. Till May 24 (except Monday) at Bose Pacia, Stephen Court, 18 Park Street, #40010148; 11 am - 7 pm: The Vase and The Lines — new works by Tarshito. Till May 25 at The Halo Heritage Art Gallery, 26 Ritchie Road, #9830050568; 3 pm - 8 pm: Heritage Happenings — an exhibition of sketches and watercolours by Samir Biswas.

PERFORMING ARTS

May 5 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30 pm: Rashmi Welfare Society presents Debota Jene, a solo recital of Tagore songs by Rahul Mitra. This evening he will render 26 devotional numbers from ‘Puja’. May 5 at Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi Sabhagriha; 5.30 pm: Mitramon presents an evening of recitation. May 5 at Rabindra Okakura Bhavan, opp. Salt Lake City Centre; 6 pm: Charukantha presents Jugalbandi featuring songs by Sangeeta Basu and Basabi Bagchi,to be followed by a collage of Tagore’s drama and dance-drama with Jagannath Basu and Urmimala Basu in readings and Swarup Pal and Swati Pal in songs. May 8 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: Naba Pratisruti presents Chabbishey Rabi, featuring Lopamudra Mitra, Rahul Mitra and Sutapa Bandyopadhyay in solo recitals of Tagore song/ recitation. May 8 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: Anubhav Foundation presents Utsarito Aalo featuring the formal launch of the book, Aajker Kunteera; dance programme by the students of Anubhav; drama Khela Gadi by Rangakarmee; and Tagore songs by Manoj Murali Nair and Manisha Murali Nair. May 9 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 6 pm: Classical vocal concert by Pandit Shyam Sundar Goswami, with Ustad Sabir Khan (tabla), Ustad Roushan Ali (sarangi) and Francoise Jalais (tanpura).

DRAMA

May 5 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Sanglap Kolkata presents Lathi Kando, based on a novel by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. Drama & direction: Kuntal Mukhopadhyay. May 6 at Sisir Mancha; 6.30 pm: Little Thespian will stage Lohakut, a play by Balwant Gargi. Design & direction: S.M. Azhar Alam. May 6 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Mangalik presents Manush Bhoot, directed by Samir Biswas. May 8 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Rang Roop will stage Byaram Biram. Direction: Seema Mukhopadhyay.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till May 15 at South City Mall; 12 noon - 8 pm: Memorable Outdoors — an exhibition of photographs taken by Asish Bal, Samir Basu, Sandipan Das, Sanjay Thakur and Subrata Bose.

DISCUSSION

May 5 at Oxford Bookstore, Park Street; 6 pm: Echoes of Life — a coffee table discussion on painting, recitation and music with Gautam Banerjee, Shubobroto Chakraborty, Chitralekha Ghosh and Shomi Banerjee.

TALK

May 5 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Sitanath Goswami will speak in Bengali on Upanishader Shiksha: Adhyatmik Drishtite.

EXHIBITION

May 5 - 7 at Artisana, 13 Chowringhee Terrace, 1st floor, #2223 9422; 11 am - 7 pm: Crafts Council of West Bengal and Rare present Resist, an exhibition of fabrics created through aunique Resist technique. Resist features a bold and distinctive range of textiles and garments by Suchi, in a fashion show (6.30 pm - 7 pm) and exhibition. Inauguration today at 5.30 pm. Till May 7 at Soumya’s Creation, 57/9 Ballygunge Circular Road; 10.30 am - 6.30 pm: Summerfare — an exhibition of unstitched salwar suits specially designed for the summer. May 5 - 7 at Utopia, 94C Bakul Bagan Road, #64552274: Celebrations and Krishnakali jointly present an exhibition of gift items, cards, organza printed cotton saris and unstitched suits. Till May 10 at Tagore Research Institute, Kalighat Park; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of books on Tagore and his works. Till May 10 at Gallerie 52d, 52D Hindusthan Park, #40086897; 12.30 pm - 7 pm: Fashion and Art — an exhibition which combines two of the most vibrant and inventive areas in the decorative arts today.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