A charred consciousness The gestation period of the play, Surjo-pora Chhai (meaning ‘sun-burnt ash’), began when director Debesh Chattopadhyay was teaching the concept of radioactivity to some of his students. He claims that teaching the structure of the atom reminded him of a family and this eventually metamorphosised into the play, based on the interlocutions among two daughters, their mother and the grandmother. Riddhi, the elder daughter, is of a subdued nature and engrossed chiefly in her studies. At school, she conducts experiments on the effect of gamma-rays on sunflower seeds. Rimona, the younger one, is restless and is actually suffering from a psychological crisis. The invalid grandmother moves on a wheel-chair and is hardly able to speak, while the mother is an outwardly impolite person. The motif of the burnt, perished seeds becomes a commentary on the existence of these characters who are torn between what they inherit and what they propose. This evening also has a performance of the play, Mouna-Mukhar (dir: Satya Bhaduri). Event: Plays in Bengali, Surojo-pora Chhai and Mouna-Mukhar produced by Sansriti When: Today at 3 pm Where: Academy of Fine Arts

art

Till October 20 at Galerie Karma, P-505 Keyatola Road, #24636731/2; 10 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Arunava Mondal, Ashok Bhowmik, Atin Basak, Dhiren Sasmal, Diptish Ghosh Dastidar, Pradip Das, Pradip Pradhan, Pradip Rakshit, Partha Dasgupta, Rajib Bhattacharjee, Saikat Maity, Sanjay Manna, Subrata Sen, Sudhangshu Bandopadhay, Sudipta Tewari, Swapan Ghosh and Swapan Kumar Saha. Curated by Akumal Ramachander. Till October 24 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahar Road, #24752275; 3 pm - 8 pm: Chitrakoot presents an exhibition of paintings and sculptures, Devi Durga. Till October 26 (except October 18 - 21) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, 11 am - 7 pm: Surfaces and Textures — works by Dattatraya Apte, Kishore Shinde, Manjari Chakravarty, Mekhala Bahl, Mithu Sen, Mona Rai, Neha Turakhia, Ranjith Raman, Rooshika Patel, Shobha Broota, Tapati Chowdhury, Yashwant Deshmukh and Yogesh Rawal. Till October 27 at Mon Art Gallery, 6 Picasso Bithi (Hungerford Street), Regency Building, 3rd floor, #22895438; 11.30 am - 7 pm: Three Amigos, an exhibition of abstract paintings by the trio from Goa: Deviprasad C Rao, Suhas Shilker and Swatee Nair. Till October 27 (except Monday) at Bose Pacia Kolkata, 18 Stephen Court, #65459955; 11 am - 7 pm: Equinox Shift — new paintings and works on paper by Joydip Sengupta. Till October 28 (except Sundays) at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Park Road; 11 am - 8 pm: An Evening in Paris — experiences of a group of artists as they traversed through various museums and art galleries of Paris, Rome, Venice and London. Till October 30 (except Sundays) at Gallery Kolkata, 41 Shakespeare Sarani, 2nd floor, Duckback House; 11 am - 7 pm: A Brush with Durga, an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Jogen Chowdhury, Prakash Karmakar, Shuvaprasanna, Suhas Roy, Rini Dhumal, K.S. Radhakrishnan, Ashoke Mullick, Aloke Sardar, Arup Das, Manoj Mitra, Dwijen Gupta, Ram Kumar Manna, Mehazabin I Mazumder, Bratin Khan, Suman Roy, Sudipta Datta, K. Muralidharan, Sadhan Chakraborty, Shyamal Roy, Shyamal Mukherjee, Debabrata Chakraborty, Shekhar Kar, Subroto Biswas, Chanchal Mukherjee, Sanatan Dinda and Swapan Kumar Das. Till October 31 at Kanvas Art Gallery, 53 Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Shivam Chambers, 2nd floor; 3 pm - 7 pm: A Spiritual Tribute, a duet - lens and brush. Fine art photography by Partha Choudhury, and mystical strokes by Nitya Kundu, Sanjib Roy, Subrata Pal, Subrata Das and Jiban Biswas. Till November 3 (except Sundays) at Tejas Arts Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, opp. Ice Skating Rink; 3 pm - 7.30 pm: Tejas presents Devi — eighteen artists’ versions of Goddess Durga. Participating artists: Abhijit Ghosh, Anita Gurbaxani, Anirban Seth, Ashok Ganguly, Barun Saha, Biswarup Haldar, Debasish Sen Gupta, Dhiren Sasmal, Goutam Sarkar, Palash Paul, Partha Ray, Ritu Poddar, Runu Misra Banerjee, Samir Aich, Sarbani Ganguly, Shambhu Saha, Sudipto Tiwari, Swapan Kumar Saha, Tarun Chakravorty, Ujjwal Debnath and Buddhadeb Bose.

DRAMA

October 18 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Sansriti presents its two new productions, Surjo-pora Chhai (dir: Debesh Chattopadhyay) and Mouna-Mukhar (dir: Satya Bhadury). October 18 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Anya Theatre presents Ujjwal Chattopadhyay’s Kshudha. Direction: Ranajit Chakraborty. October 18 (at 6.30 pm) and October 19 (at 3 pm & 6.30 pm) at Tapan Theatre: Lok-Krishti presents Krishna Gahvar. Drama, direction & acting: Bratya Basu. October 19 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Arghya presents Tagore’s Rakta Karabi. Direction: Manish Mitra. October 19 at Sujata Sadan; 6.30 pm: Anya Theatre presents Bidhayak Bhattacharjee’s Draupadir Bastra Haran (Dir: Sanat Chandra) and Parichalona (Dir: Debashis Roychoudhury). October 20 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Nandikar presents Abanindranath Tagore’s Bappaditya. Main performance: Sohini Sengupta. Music & direction: Goutam Halder. October 20 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Nandikar presents its new production, Nana Ranger Din (Drama: Anton Chekov/Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay; Performance: Prathapratim Deb and Rudraprasad Sengupta; Dir: Rudraprasad Sengupta) and Chokh Gyalo (Story: Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay; Main performance: Swatilekha Sengupta; Dir: Goutam Halder).

PERFOrMING ARTS

October 18 at Dum Dum Sanskriti Mancha; 7 pm: An evening of Kathak dance by Soma Ghosh (picture left) and her troupe.

FESTIVAL

Till October 21 at Sringeri Sri Sarada Peetham Sankara Hall, 93 Southern Avenue, #24661767: Sri Sarada Navarathri Celebrations 2007. Today: Pooja, Archana and Devi Mahatmya Parayanam at 7 am; Lalitha Sahasranama Archana and recitation of slokas at 6 pm, and Sangeeta Sabha - Janaki Subramanian (vocal) with K. Srividya (violin), N. Sankar (mridangam) and P.V. Sairam (kanjira) at 6.45 pm.

DURGA PUJA

Till October 20 at Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math: Sri Sri Durga Puja 2007 according to Vishuddha Siddhanta Almanac. Saptami (October 18): Puja begins at 5.40 am. Mahashtami (October 19): Puja begins at 5.40 am; Kumari Puja at 9 am; Distribution of prasada at 12 noon; Sandhi Puja 1.51 am to 2.39 am (late night). Mahanavami (October 20): Puja begins at 5.40 am; Homa after Bhogarati of Sri Sri Devi. Vijaya Dashami (October 21): Puja begins at 7 am; Immersion and Shantivari after evening arati of Sri Sri Thakur. Special launch services throughout the day by West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation Limited.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till October 20 at Kalyani Clinic & Laboratory, 872 Sarat Chatterjee Road, Belepole, Batore, Howrah; 6 pm - 10 pm: Picturesque, a group of contemporary photographers, presents its seventh annual show.

EXHIBITION

Till October 18 at Cottage Industries, 7 Jawaharlal Nehru Road; 10 am - 7 pm: Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Ltd hosts a saree and ready-to-wear exhibition. Till October 18 at P 249 Purna Das Road: Darbari hosts Sharadiya Shimeeta Sankhya - A Limited Edition Affair, an exhibition featuring saris, suits, kurtis, patialas, tunics, skirts and leather accessories. Till October 25 at Utopia, 94C Bakul Bagan Road, Paddapukur; 10 am - 6 pm: An exhibition of lifestyle products comprising platters, candles, boxes, mats, trays, vases, ornate mirrors.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