Existential dichotomy The impact of globalisation and an upwardly mobile materialistic culture can be felt in every walk of life with the waning of moral and social values, lifestyles and ideology. Nandikar’s play, Ajnatobaas, addresses the plight of the elderly and the apathy that our society doles out to them. These men and women, who are destined to co-inhabit the contemporary world, find it both strange and unrealistic. They try their best — shifting, making adjustments — to eke out a little space under the sun. But does that make their journey a little more bearable? The dilemma of the elderly is beautifully delineated in the play by veteran actor Swatilekha Sengupta. Based on Sukanta Gangopadhyay’s work, the play centres around an elderly lady who seems exhausted and lost, and looks around for a place to rest. She encounters Payel, a newly-married woman, who is lonely and needs to talk to someone to get over her boredom. The two interact and gradually their lot is intertwined by an invisible string of familiarity. Apprehensions and fears dominate the lives of both Payel and her husband Soumik who do not know how to handle the elderly lady, who remembers nothing of her past but is yet so much alive and fascinating. Is this how men and women traverse life’s long and winding path and where does it leads to ultimately? Event: Ajnatobaas — Play in Bengali produced by Nandikar When: Today at 6.30pm Where: Academy of Fine Arts

ART

Till July 16 (except Sundays & public holidays) at CIMA Gallery, Sunny Towers (2nd floor), 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, 2485 8717, 2485 8509; Mondays: 3pm - 7pm, Tuesdays - Saturdays: 2pm - 7pm: Summer Show 2011. Participants: Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Sumitro Basak, Jyoti Bhatt, Shreyasi Chatterjee, Rini Dhumal, Farhad Hussain, Abir Karmakar, Surendran P. Karthyayan, Goutam Khamaru, Bimal Kundu, Paresh Maity, Martin O.C., Shyamal Roy, Shakila, Paramjit Singh, Thota Tharrani, Babu Xavier and others from across India. May 26 - June 1 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: Essence of Nature, a solo exhibition of paintings by Mukul Mukhopadhyay. Inauguration today at 5pm. May 26 - June 1 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: An exhibition of paintings and sculptures. Featuring works by Biswanath, Bhargab, Amitabha, Monalisha, Susamoy and Shamba. Inauguration today at 5pm. May 26 - June 1 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: An exhibition of paintings. mostly on Tagore, by Samar Bhowmik. Inauguration at 4pm. May 26 - 31 at Gallery 79, 79 Raja Basanta Roy Road; 11am - 7.30pm: Life in a Metro, an exhibition of paintings by Dr Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar. Inauguration today at 4pm. Till May 26 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: An exhibition of recent paintings by Malay Datta. Till May 29 at Taj Bengal, Promenade Lounge; 10am - 11pm: Impression — a solo exhibition of paintings by Gopal Dey. Till May 31 (except Sunday) at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, 2289 3027/5041; 12noon - 7pm: Tales from Tagore: Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. Featuring works by Abhijit Gupta, Aditya Basak, Chandra Bhattacharya, Chhatrapati Dutta, Prabhat Basu, Probir Gupta, Rajesh Deb, Sekhar Roy and Sourav Jana. Till May 31 at Mythh, Hotel Hindusthan International; 10am - 8pm: HHI presents Art on Sale, an exhibition of paintings by the city’s contemporary artists. Till June 9 (except Sundays) at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road, 24630465, 40012289; 11 am - 7pm: The Young Man Was... (a few chapter): Naeem Mohaiemen. Till June 18 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahat Road, 2475 2275; 3pm - 8pm: Chitrakoot presents Summer Oasis, an exhibition of artworks by renowned masters. Featuring works by Abanindranath Tagore, Atul Bose, B.P. Banerjee, Chintamoni Kar, Chittoprasad, Gaganendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, Gopal Ghosh, Hemen Mazumdar, J.P. Ganguly, Jamini Roy, Kalight School, Manindra Bhushan Gupta, M.F. Husain, Nandalal Bose, Nikhil Biswas, Prakash Karmakar, Ramkinker Baij, Ranada Ukil, Samar Ghosh, Somnath Hore, Suhas Roy, Zainul Abedin, Arun Goswami, Arup Das, Chanchal Mukherjee, Manoj Mitra, Pradip Maitra and others. Till June 22 (except Thursdays) at Gallery Gold, 11 Abdul Rasul Avenue, 9432359581; 2pm - 9pm: World of Art International Exhibition of paintings and sculptures.

DRAMA

May 26 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30pm: Nandikar presents Ajnatobaas. Story: Sukanta Gangopadhyay. Direction: Sumanta Gangopadhyay. Main cast: Swatilekha Sengupta, Rudraprasad Sengupta, Sohini Sengupta and Sumanta Ganguly. May 26 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30pm: Shouvanik presents Matlobi Paasha. Direction: Chandan Das. May 26 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30pm: As part of Chokh Natyamela 2011, Theatre Platform will stage Muktadhara. Direction: Nancy. May 26 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30pm: Drishyapat presents Charu. Drama: ujjwal Chattopadhyay. Direction: Anirban Bhattacharya.

RABINDRA JAYANTI

May 26 at Purbashree auditorium, IB 201, Sector III, Salt Lake; 6.30pm: EZCC’s tribute to Tagore on his 150th birth anniversary features puppet drama Aaguner Parashmoni (Dir: Sudeep Gupta) presented by Dolls Theatre. Also, Tagore songs by Banani Dey, Anuradha Chattopadhyay, Sarbani Bagchi and Shreyasi Mitra.

NAZRUL JAYANTI

May 26 - 29 at Rabindra Sadan; 5.30pm: Rabindra Sadan, under I&CA department, Government of West Bengal, is celebrating the 112th birth anniversary of Kazi Nazrul Islam. Today: Siddheswar Mukhopadhyay Smriti Sansad (chorus, directed by Krishna Mazumder), tune of Nazrulgeeti on guitar by Arindam Kazi, and songs & recitation by Banasree Sengupta, Ramanuj Dasgupta, Haimanti Shukla, Madhuri Chattopadhyay, Anup Ghoshal, Parimal Bhattacharya, Shampa Kundu, Krishna Mazumder, Susmita Goswami, Shankar Ghoshal, Debosmita Mukherjee, Samadrita Guha, Sajal Shyam, Swarnabha Roy and Debashis Basu. May 26 at Sisir Mancha; 9am - 12noon & 6pm - 9pm: Aginibeena’s Nazrul Pranam features song, recitation, reading and talk by well-known artistes and distinguished speakers.

taLK

May 26 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 4.30pm: Pravrajika Amalaprana will speak on Sri Sri Sarada Devi Anudhyan. May 26 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6pm: Dr Debabrata Sen Sharma will speak in English on Kashmir Saivism. May 26 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Abhedananda Memorial Hall; 7pm: Talk on Sarada Kathamrita accompanied by songs by Prof. Parimal Chakraborty and Ramesh Dutta. May 26 at the Ramakrishna Mancha, Ramakrishna Mission Swami Vivekananda’s Ancestral Home and Cultural Centre, 3 Gour Mohan Mukherjee Street; 7pm: Swami Niyatatmananda will speak on Mayer Katha. May 26 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 7.10pm: Swami Vamanananda will speak on Practice of Spirituality and Meditation.

pHOTOGRAPHS

May 26 - June 1 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South-B Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: “Kingshuker Chhobi” - Geometry: Rational Irrational — the 3rd solo photography exhibition by Kimsuk Ray. Preview today at 5.30pm. Till May 30 in the Portrait Gallery, Victoria Memorial Hall; 10am - 5pm: Hoppé’s Santiniketan — an exhibition of photographs from 1929 by Emil Otto Hoppé. Till May 27 at Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshashala; 3pm - 8pm: Exhibition of Photographic Art featuring works by the students and members of Photographic Association of Dum Dum.

FILM SHOW

May 26 at Max Mueller Bhavan; 4pm & 6pm: The concluding day of Bangladesh Film Festival, presented by Federation of Film Societies of India (Eastern Region). Today: Screening of Waiting (Dir: Abu Sayeed) at 4pm; and 3rd Person Singular Number (2009; Dir: Mostofa Sarwar Farooki) at 6pm. May 26 & 27 at Nandan-III; 6pm: Cine Central Calcutta, in association with Alliance Francaise du Bengale, presents Portraits de Paris, a festival of documentary films. Today: Sur les toits de Paris 5-7rue Corbeau.

EXHIBITION

Till May 28 at Sanskriti, 12 Jamir Lane, Ballygunge, 65222434, 24401670; 10am - 8.30pm: Exhibition of painted saris in silk, tussar and matka. Also, cotton kurtis in all sizes. Till May 31 at ECA Art Walk, South City Mall; 12noon - 8pm: An exclusive exhibition on Tanjore art and handicrafts. Showcasing traditionally rich paintings and handicrafts created by the artisans from remote villages of Thiruvananthapuram. Till May 31 at 175 Block G, New Alipore, 40608060; 11am - 7.30pm (weekdays): “V” Style Voyage exhibits new summer designer collection of salwar kurta, tunics. Also, artefacts, home decor items, table-mats, bags, footwear and accessories, and designer kidswear. Till June 2 at Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India, 7 Jawaharlal Nehru Road: A variety of cotton saris procured from master weavers from all over the country. Till June 9 at Nandalal Bose Gallery & Jamini Roy Gallery, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 11am - 7pm: On the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR Calcutta salutes a myriad-minded Poet with an exhibition series: (1) Tagore in Advertisements; (2) Of Tagore and Cinema; (3) Tagore in Philately; (4) Rabindranath Tagore: Pilgrimages to the East, a photographic exhibition on the Poet’s tour of South-East Asia and China; and (5) Tagore and Kantha.

WORKSHOP

Till May 28 at Oxford Bookstore, 17 Park Street; 11am - 1pm: Kids Summer Camp — a fun-filled workshop to learn a plethora of activities. May 26: Paper craft workshop. May 27: Wildlife quiz competition for kids. May 28: Magic show for kids. For registration details, call 9831671437 / 44035708. May 27 (12noon - 4pm), May 28 (10am - 2pm) & May 29 (12.30pm - 3pm) at Calcutta School of Music, Sandre Hall, 6-B Sunny Park: Makhla Shinjini is organising a dance workshop to be conducted by Keya Chanda. For details, call 26637417, 9831029506. May 27 at Crossword, Elgin Road; 4pm - 5pm: Crossword Summer Fest. Dough workshop for the age group, 3yrs to 5yrs. Drawing competition (for 6yrs - 9yrs & 9yrs - 12yrs) at 5.30pm. May 26 - 28 at 1A Asutosh Mookerjee Road, 404 Elgin Chambers; 2pm - 5pm: Workshop on jewellery making, from earrings to anklets, bib necklace and more. To register, call 9874400844. May 30 - June 3 at Starmark, 3 Lord Sinha Road, Mani Square and City Centre (Salt Lake); 11.30am - 1.30pm: In association with Hobby Ideas, Starmark will hold art and craft workshop for children who are 10 years old and above – a punch craft workshop covering basics of punch craft (day 1), gift bag making (day 2), greeting card making (day 3), wall frame making (day 4), and bookmark making (day 5). For more details and registration, call 99039 85097.

QUIZ

May 29 & June 4 at J-3, Block GP, Sector V, Salt Lake City (near RDB Boulevard): IBS Kolkata, in conjunction with Kwizmanaiax, presents the following individual, written quizzes: Mahaquizzer: May 29, registration from 9.30 am; World Quiz Chamionship: June 4, registration from 3.30 pm. All quizzers are welcome. For further details, contact Abhijit (9830487023), or Rudradeep (9836344694).

---

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