When love is in the air... A day devoted to love and affection, Valentine’s Day derives its name from one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine. It is traditionally a day when lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines”). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. This year, City Centre Mall New Town is celebrating this special occasion in its unique way, with a line-up of daily events and competitions leading up to a grand finale to be held tomorrow, on Valentine’s Day. Yesterday and today, two sets of 30 couples each are participating in various fun-filled, innovative preliminary events based on themes of love, from amongst whom couples qualifying for the finals will be selected. Tomorrow’s finalists will be called upon to sing, dance, ramp-walk, act and find ‘hidden treasure’, before the winners are declared and awarded. Event: Valentine’s Day celebrations When: Till February 14; day-long Where: City Centre 2, New Town

ART

Till February 13 at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani, #2290 2274; 11 am - 7 pm: Search Within — an exhibition of the works of Benitha Perciyal K., Dimpy Menon, Parvathi Nayar, Prasannakumar N. and Siva M. Till February 13 at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G7 Malayalay Building, 3 Woodburn Park: A group show featuring works by Sunil Shaw, Tanuva Adhikari, Kangkan Barman, Gouri Rakshit, Prasenjit Nath, Prasenjit Shaw, Devasis Mukherjee and Susmita Saha. Till February 14 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Spectrum Artists’ Circle presents its 35th group show of recent paintings and sculptures. Till February 17 at Academy of Fine Arts, North & West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Relation Next, the solo show of Sanatan Dinda. Till February 20 (except Sunday) at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Park Road; 11 am - 8 pm: Phir Wohi Doodh — an exhibition of the works of A. Rajeswara Rao. Till February 28 (except Mondays) at Ahuja Museum for the Arts, 26 Lee Road, #40034974; 12 noon - 7 pm: Young Indian Artists-I — an exhibition of paintings from the Museum’s collection.

DRAMA

February 13 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Naye Natua presents two plays: Barda Barda and Missed Call. Direction: Goutam Halder. February 13 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Sansriti presents Dream Dream, starring Goutam Halder. Dir: Debesh Chattopadhyay. February 13 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Sayak presents Dournama. Direction: Meghnad Bhattacharya. Till February 18 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: 5th Durgadas Natyotsav, organised by Durgadas Smriti Sangha. Today: Durgadas Smriti Sangha will stage Amla Madhur (Dir: Tirthankar Chattopadhyay). Tomorrow: Nandikar will stage Ajnatobass (Dir: Sumanta Gangopadhyay). Till February 13 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Anamika Kala Sangam presents a festival of plays produced by Akvarious Productions, Mumbai. Today: All About Women (in English), a Miro Gavran’s play directed by Hidyaat Sami. February 14 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm & 6.30 pm: Bratyajan will stage Ruddha Sangeet, with Debshankar Haldar in the lead. Drama, direction & acting: Bratya Basu. February 14 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30 pm: Chetana will stage Manik Bandyopadhyay’s Putul Naacher Itikatha. Dir: Arun Mukhopadhyay. February 14 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Theatre Workshop will stage Juddha Paristhiti, dramatised and directed by Ashok Mukhopadhyay. February 14 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Pancham Vaidic will stage A-parajita. Direction: Arpita Ghosh. February 14 at Mukta Angan Rangalaya; 6.30 pm: Shouvanik presents Matlobi Pasha, directed by Chandan Das. February 14 at Minerva; 6.30 pm: Kalindi Natyasrijan’s Natyotsav features two short plays: Bikalpo (Dir: Bilwadal Chattopadhyay) by Kalindi Natyasrijan and Fidayein (Dir: Atanu Sarkar) by Thealight.

DEBATE

February 13 at St Xavier’s Grounds; 6 pm: St Xavier’s 150 Debate on the occasion of the 150 years celebrations. The Topic: In the opinion of the house, India today needs a benevolent dictatorship rather than this exploitative democracy. Panelists: Xaverians - Sandip Chatterjee, Sugato Bose, Kunal Sarkar, Ashoke Viswanathan and Suman Mukherjee. Politicians - Mani Shankar Aiyar, Tathagata Roy, Abhisekh Manu Singhvi, Sougata Roy and Saifuddin Chowdhury.

PERFORMING ARTS

Till February 13 at Rabindra Sadan: West Bengal Dance Group Federation hosts Stars of Tomorrow, a festival of young talents in dance. Today, 5.30 pm: Ashim Modak & Madhusree Ghosal (Bharata Natyam), Arpita Banerjee (Kathak), Roshmi Das (Bharata Natyam), Munmun Mukherjee, Moutushi Das & Chaitali Ukil (Bharata Natyam), and Lopamudra Roychoudhury (Kathak). February 13 at Kala Mandir; 6 pm: Springs of Love — a Valentine’s Day celebration based on Hindusthani classical music and dance.Concept: Sounak Chattopadhyay. Participants: Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar), Jaya Seal Ghosh (dance) and Sounak Chattopadhyay (vocal) accompanied by Anubrata Chatterjee and Subhajyoti Guha (tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharya (harmonium). Presented by Chinton. February 13 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 6 pm: Valentine Eve — an evening of romantic songs and instrumentals by Rajiv Doss. February 13 at Science City auditorium; 6.15 pm: Inner Voyage Communication presents the trio: Birju Maharaj (dance), Hariharan (ghazal & thumri) and Swapan Choudhury (tabla). February 13 at SRA Auditorium; 6.30 pm: Sangeet Research Academy presents a solo Kathak recital by Sayanee Chavda. February 14 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: Bishwabhara Pran presents an evening of Tagore song and reading in solos and chorus by Anuradha Bala, Gouri Ghosh, Gopa Roy, Jonaki Choudhury, Trishit Choudhury, Partha Ghosh, Pradip Sarkar, Mita Ghosh, Shamit Roy and Sumana Bhattacharya. Also, solo recital of Tagore songs by Aditi Mohsin, Shraboni Sen and Subrata Sengupta, and felicitation to Sumitra Sen. February 14 at Krishno Priyo, 5/1 Gariahat Road, new Ballygunge Phari; 6 pm: Arunima-Active is organising an evening of Tagore songs to encourage new talents along with the participation of a veteran performer.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Till February 14 at Seagull Arts & Media Resource Centre, 36C SP Mukherjee Road, #2455 6942; 2 pm - 8 pm: Gallery Sumukha & Seagull Foundation for the Arts present Disappearing Professions in Urban India, an exhibition of photographs by Clare Arni. Till February 14 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Double Exposure — a joint photographic exposition of the works of Dr Gautam Basu and Suvomoy Mitra. Till March 5 (except Mondays & public holidays) at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3 pm - 8 pm: East City — Kolkata Before the Campaign, an exhibition of photographs by Leena Kejriwal.

CARNIVAL

February 13 at Institute of Child Health, 11 Dr Biresh Guha Street, Park Circus: Carnival for challenged children organised by Nivedita Centre for Challenged Children, Institute of Child Health, in collaboration with Park Street Ladies Circle #46. Actress Rachana Banerjee will inaugurate the carnival at 2 pm. Go-as-you-like starts at 12.30 pm.

CANCER SURVIVORS’ DAY

February 13 at Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute auditorium; 3 pm: Hitaishini, the breast cancer support network, has arranged for a cultural show to entertain all mobile in-patients of CNCI Hospital. Featuring a performance by the Dhiman Shankar Dance Troupe.

TALK

February 13 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Amlan Dutta will speak in Bengali on Kena Chai Navajagaran? February 13 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra; 6.30 pm: Swami Pareshatmananda will speak on Vivek Chudamani. February 13 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math; 7 pm: Swami Paramatmananda will speak in Bengali on Mrityu-Rahasya.

VARIETY

Till February 14 at Amoda Spa Bar; 10 am - 8 pm: Mystical Moments: A day-long event with the following aspects: crystal-ball gazing, graphology (sign analysis) & tarot-card reading and love barometer.

REUNION

February 14 at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur Math; 7 am onwards: The day-long celebration of 21st Triennial Reunion Ceremony for the ex-students of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur Math.

WORKSHOP

February 13, 20 & 27 at Eduzone, 112 Southern Avenue; 11 am - 1 pm: Free introductory workshop and free diagnostic tests with corrections for SAT, GRE, TOEFL & IELTS. Also, workshop on foundation building courses for physics, chemistry, maths and English for classes VI to XII. E-mail confirmation at eduzoneindia@gmail.com For details, call 9830020277, 9230613528 or visit www.eduzoneindia.com

SEMINAR

February 14 at Rabindra Sarobar Stadium; 10 am: Laughing Academy of Eastern India hosts its annual seminar on Laughter Yoga. Inauguration by Sudip Bandyopadhyay, MP. Guest speaker: Dr Pradip Mitra, director, SSKM Hospital. To be followed by a cultural programme presented by the Song & Drama Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India. ll 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