A shared philosophy Einstein once said, “ One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality”. This immediately reminds us of Tagore’s hymn Mahabishwe mahakashey mahakalo majhe/ Aami manaba ekaki bhrami bishmaye bhrami bishmaye ... The summer of 1930 occasioned a meeting of two extraordinary minds — Rabindranath Tagore and Albert Einstein, who met through a common friend, Dr Mendel. Tagore visited Einstein at his residence at Kaputh near Berlin on July 14 1930 and Einstein returned the call and visited Tagore at the Mendel home. Their interaction further reinforced the similarity of thought of the two great men. Einstein remarked, “A spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe — a spirit vastly superior to that of man and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble”. He added that this is how “the pursuit of science has a religious feeling of a special sort” which he termed ‘cosmic religion’. Tagore also wrote along the same lines, Ekoko akhanda brahmandorajye poromo- Eko shei rajo rajendro raje, bishmito nimesho hoto bishwo charane binoto lakshyasata bhaktachita bakyahara... To mark Baishe Shravan, Tagore’s death anniversary, mathematician and musician Sudeshna Basu will present a programme Mahabishwe Mahakashey, where she will render Tagore songs interspersed with readings from Einstein’s writings to uncover and explain the kindred philosophical thoughts of the poet and the scientist. Hosted by Rabindra Bharati University. Event: A programme of music and reading on Tagore and Einstein presented by Sudeshna Basu When: Today at 9.30 am Where: Jorasanko Thakurbari

Art

August 8 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 6 pm: Inauguration of an exhibition of paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphics by the awardees at the Annual Exhibition 2009. Till August 8 at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G-7 Malayalay Apts, 3 Woodburn Park, #30534053; 11 am - 6 pm: Meditative Beauty — recent paintings by Tanuj Sardar. Till August 9 at The Promenade Lounge, Taj Bengal; 10 am - 11 pm: The 11th solo exhibition of paintings by Sujata Chakraborty. The artist will be painting live from 3 pm to 6 pm. Till August 9 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 4th floor; 4 pm - 8 pm: SMS presents a group exhibition of paintings by Paulumi Roy, Puja Sarkar, Ankan Bandyopadhyay, Pitambar Khan, Goutam Chakraborty, Sandip Sarkar, Tonmoy Roy and Somnath Dolui.

PERFORMING ARTS

August 8 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Undoubtedly Real: Homage to Tagore’s reletless journeys, time and again, through dance (Bharata Natyam) by Navtej Singh Johar. Presented as part of Rabindra Utsav, hosted by Happenings. August 8 at Spandan, 87 Park Street, 1st floor; 7 pm: Spandan, in association with Manik Shahani Art Foundation, presents an evening of classical music by two prodigies Prabahan Basu (sarod) and Sreejan Deb (tabla) as a tribute to Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. August 9 at Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi; 5.30 pm: Chhandak presents Subodh Mallika Square — an evening of recitation. August 9 at Rabindra Sadan; 5.30 pm: Barsha Utsav featuring dances by Amita Dutt, Sruti Bandopadhyay, Subhasis Bhattacharya, Aditya Mitra, Kalavati Devi, Devjani Chaliha, Malabika Sen, Priti Patel and Ashim Bandhu Bhattacharya; songs by Anushila Basu, Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta, Alok Roychoudhury, Rachayita Roy, Shinjini Acharya Majumdar, Jayati Chakraborty, Prabuddha Raha, Subrata Sengupta and others; and recitation by Raja Sarkar, Koushik Sen, Kingshuk Roychoudhury, Ishita Das Adhikari and Shantanu Gangopadhyay. August 9 at Rathindra Mancha; 6 pm: Abanindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary programme organised by Rabindra Bharati Society. Abanindra Memorial Leacture by Prof. R. Shivkumar, to be followed by songs and recitation. August 9 at Science City auditorium; 6 pm: Performances by Jagjit Singh and Hariharan. August 9 at The Regency, 6 Hungerford Street; 6 pm: Sur-Shravan presents Pandit Ajoy Charaborty in a demonstration of Indian classical music. August 9 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Sanskriti Sagar hosts a Bhajan Sandhya by Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj.

IN MEMORIAM

August 8 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, in association with Jalsaghar, presents Smaranarha — Reminiscences of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan by Shankarlal Bhattacharya and others. To be followed by a sarod recital by Debanjan Bhattacharya with Arindam Chakraborty (tabla), and a sitar recital by Deep Shankar Bhattacharya with Ashis Mukherjee (tabla).

BAISHEy SHRAVAN

August 8 at Rabindra Sadan; 9 am: Sur Sadhana presents Phirey Dekha featuring Varsha Mangal (participants: Ratna Roy, Uma Mukhopadhyay, Sharbari Bhattacharya and others); solo recitals by Purabi Mukhopadhyay, Enakshi Chattopadhyay, Mohan Singh, Indrani Sen, Srikanto Acharya, Shampa Kundu, Saheb Chattopadhyay and Kingshuk Roy; and potery-reading by Bratati Bandyopadhyay and Pranati Thakur. August 8 at Swiss Park, Tollygunge; 5 pm: Kabi Praname Mohar — songs by Prasad Sen, Rajeswar Bhattacharya, Pramita Mallick, Agnibha Bandyopadhyay, Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay, Shraboni Sen, Pramit Sen, Alak Roy Chaudhuri, Ananda Gupta and others; and recitation by Bratati Bandyopadhyay, Partho Mukhopadhyay and others. August 8 at Indumati Sabhagriha; 5.30 pm: Sambhar presents songs by Soma Chakraborty, Tania Das, Madhabi Dutta, Esha Mitra, Apala Basu, Uma Mukhopadhyay, Sudeshna Sanyal, Bivas Chattopadhyay, Biswarup Rudra and others; and recitation & reading by Madhumita Basu, Bimal Dutta, Ishita Das Adhikari and others. August 8 at Rathindra Mancha; 6 pm: Rabindra Bharati Society’s tribute to Tagore with recitation and reading by Urmimala and Jagannath Basu and Bisakha Mukherjee; and songs by Prabuddha Raha, Aditi Gupta, Sikha Basu, Chitralekha Chowdhury and others. August 8 -10 at Rabindra Sadan: Rabindra Smaran O Barsha Utsav organised by Rabindra Sadan and the state government’s department of information and cultural affairs. Today (Rabindra Smaran) at 6 pm: Songs by Dwijen Mukherjee, Purabi Mukherhjee, Bibha Sengupta, Rajeshwar Bhattacharya, Chitralekha Choudhury, Purba Dam, Asis Bhattacharya, Swapna Ghosal, Abhirup Guha Thakurta, Swastika Mukhopadhyay and others; Subir Mitra and Ratna Mitra will perform Mrityur Natun Shilpi, written by Alokranjan Dasgupta. August 8 at 86B Manoharpukur Road; 7 pm: Tagore’s death anniversary programme hosted by Roma Chakravartti, Shantiniketani Puratani. August 9 at Purbashree, EZCC, Salt Lake; 5.30 pm: Rabichchhaya presents songs by Abhirup Guha Thakurta, Bibha Sengupta, Pramita Mallick, Swapan Basu, Rakhi Sen, Sudeshna Sanyal, Kamalini Mukhopadhyay and others along with artistes of Rama-Ramyabeena. Also, felicitation to Biplab Mondal.

DRAMA

August 8 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Purba Paschim Theatre Festival: Tagore’s Chaturanga, directed by Bratya Basu. Also, felicitation to Basu by Nandita Das. August 8 at Ramgopal Mancha; 6.30 pm: Natadha will stage Swapner Chhayachhobi. Direction: Shib Mukhopadhyay. August 8 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Swapnasoochana presents Biddho Aakash, directed by Sudipto Sarkar. August 8 & 9 at Proscenium’s Art Centre, 46 AJC Bose Road; 6.30 pm: Proscenium Art Centre presents Bahut Bada Sawal, a play in Hindi directed by Ashok Churiwal. August 9 at Sodpur Lok Sanskriti Bhavan; 6 pm: Sukhchar Pancham Repertory Theatre presents Tagore’s Bisarjan. Dir: Malay Mitra. August 9 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Purba Paschim Theatre Festival: Launch of its new production, Patal Babu Film Star, directed by Ramaprasad Banik. To be followed by felicitation to Shabana Azmi and Ramaprasad Banik by Sandip Ray and Bharati Roy. August 9 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Gandhar presents Kachher Manush, with Debshankar Haldar and Bijoylakshmi Barman in the lead. Direction: Gautam Haldar, filmmaker. August 9 at Mukta Angan Rangalaya; 6.30 pm: Shouvanik presents Fakka, directed by Chandan Das.

TALK

August 8 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 6 pm: Swami Amiteshananda will speak on Practical Vedanta. August 8 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Paramatmananda will speak in Bengali on Mrityu Rahasya. August 8 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 7 pm: Dr Subodh Choudhury will speak on Sri Ramakrishna O Keshabchandrer Sakshatkar. August 8 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 7.10 pm: Swami Jyotirupananda will speak on Today’s Russia and Ramakrishna Movement.

EXHIBITION

Till August 8 at Sree Thyagaraja Hall, P-530 Raja Basanta Roy Road; 12 noon - 8 pm: All India Women’s Conference, South Calcutta Constituent Branch presents Monsoon Mela for the benefit of the underprivileged. Featuring hand-woven materials, handicrafts, sarees, costume jewellery, children’s garments, snacks, etc. Till August 8 at P-58 Dr Sarat Banerjee Road, Calcutta 29; 4 pm - 9 pm: Sreemayee is exhibiting its festive collection of sarees. Till August 9 at 359 Jodhpur Park; 11 am - 8 pm: Shuma’s designer handcrafted sarees of tant, georgette and fancy kotas of Benaras.

WORKSHOP

August 8 at Oxford Junior, Park Street; 11.30 am - 1 pm: Oxford Junior is organising a theatre workshop (a play-reading session) for the age group, 6 yrs and above. For registration, call 98314 42177.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