Paean of love Life is about trusting your feelings and taking chances, losing and finding happiness, appreciating the memories, learning from the past, and realizing people change Medieval Indian literature is a rich treasure trove of original plots, sectarian in nature, designed to advance or to celebrate some unorthodox regional belief. Celebrating Love, the ongoing exhibition of paintings by Dhiren Sasmal, is a tribute to the legendary writings of Indian classical writers like Kalidasa and Bharatchandra that have enchanted and inspired lovers through the ages. Sasmal’s acrylic works on canvas transport viewers to an enchanted world where human beings live in harmony with nature. Pablo Picasso had once remarked, “The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web....” Sasmal, who began his career illustrating book covers, has already received numerous prestigious awards for his works, including the Sishu Sahitya Sansad Puraskar, Best Illustrator for Leela Majumdar’s Guper Guptodhan and Little Magazine Puja Edition Best Cover Designer (1983). He is flexible and capable of producing attractive literary theme-oriented paintings within a restricted frame. His works depict an easy grace, capturing the essence of the subject deftly. His canvases stoke the layer of memories lying in the subconscious mind and leave a strain of strange nostalgic feeling wherein the viewer can identify oneself with the subject. Event: Celebrating Love — an exhibition of paintings by Dhiren Sasmal When: Till December 6 Where: Taj Bengal, Promenade Lounge

Art

Till November 30 at Bengal Gallery, RTC, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 11 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Victoria Ileana Dragomirescu and Sanda Butiu, two eminent artists of Romania. Till December 5 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #2289 3027/5041; 12 noon - 7 pm: Time’s Whirlwind — Art of Satish Gujral. Till November 30 at Chemould, 12F Park Street: Paintings by Subir Kr Banerjee. Till November 30 at Gandhara Art Gallery, 1B Gurusaday Road, #22801790, 22811255: Narratives Now! — works of Chandrima Bhattacharya, Kazi Nasir, Farhad Husain, George Martin, Nantu Behari Das, Pradip Patra, Rupa Paul, Saikat Surai and T.M. Azis. Till November 30 at Gallery K2, Supra Court, 35 Lansdowne Terrace, #2465 1444; 11 am - 7 pm: A solo show of recent works by Tapas Kanti Mitra. Till November 30 at 26 Lee Road, ground floor; 11.30 am - 7.30 pm: The inaugural exhibition of Ahuja Museum for the Arts features over 1000 works from the museum’s collection. Till December 2 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘B’; 3 pm - 8 pm: Recent works of Tanima Bhattacharya and Arup Lodh. Till December 2 at Akar Prakar, P 238 Hindustan Park, #2464 2617; 2 pm - 7 pm: Recent work by Hugo Bonamin. Till December 2 at 94 Ballygunge Place, #24613145; 10 am - 7 pm: Windmills of the Mind — an exhibition of paintings by Ketakee Roy Choudhury. Till December 2 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Recent works by Bappa Halder and Sudip Chandra. Till December 6 at Taj Bengal Promenade Lounge: Celebrating Love — an exhibition of paintings by Dhiren Sasmal, based on the love theme found in ancient classics of Bengali literature. Till December 19 (except Sunday) at Gallery Kolkata, 41 Shakespeare Sarani, Duckback House, #2287 3377/88; 11 am - 7 pm: Mother and Child — an exhibition of paintings and sculptures conceptualised by Sunil Das. Participating artists: Anjali Ela Menon, Suhas Roy, Jogen Chowdhury, Prakash Karmakar, Sunil Das, Shuvaprasanna, Vasundhara Tewari Broota, Partha Pratim Deb, Sunil Kumar Das, Prasanta Sahu, Debabrata De, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Arunangshu Choudhury, Pratul Das, Murli Cheeroth, T.M. Aziz, Pradip L. Mishra, Debraj Goswami, Samir Aich, Mahjabin I Majumdar, Babu Ishwar Prasad, Ranjan Krishnan and C.F. John. Till December 20 at Sanskriti Art Gallery, 5C Alipore Park Road: An exhibition of sculptures by Debabrata De. Till December 28 at Starmark, South City Mall; 11 am - 8 pm: Paintings by Nina Das. Till January 3 (except Monday) at Bose Pacia, Stephens Court, 18 Park Street, #40010148; 11 am - 7 pm: B-Swarga — new works by Jayanta Roy. Till January 16 (except Sunday) at 2/1 Hindusthan Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Experimenter presents Freedom is Notional — works of three of South Asia’s finest artists: Shilpa Gupta, Bani Abidi and Naeem Mohaiemen.

DRAMA

November 30 at Max Mueller Bhavan Auditorium; 6.30 pm: Roddur ola gali (Sunny Alley) — a scenic collage in Bengali based on the novel, Am Kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig. Performed by Salt Lake Monirath Group Theatre. Concept & direction: Santanu Bose. November 30 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Patjhad (Hindustani adaptation of Tennesse Williams’ The Glass Menagerie) — Little Thespian’s latest production, with Uma Jhunjhunwala in the lead role. Adaptation, design & direction: S.M. Azhar Alam. December 1 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30 pm: Nandipat will stage Ballavpurer Roopkatha, directed by Prakash Bhattacharya. December 1 at Sisir Mancha; 6.30 pm: Renaissance presents its latest Hindi production, Kaal-Kothri, written by Swadesh Dipak and directed by Aloke Chakravorty. December 2 at Sujata Sadan; 6.15 pm: Ashokenagar Natyamukh will stage Kagojer Nouko, based on a story by Abul Bashar. Planning & design: Avi Chakraborty. December 2 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Inauguration of a five-day festival of plays by Sayak to mark its 36th anniversary. To be staged Sayak’s latest production, Jnan Briksher Fall, based on Leo Tolstoy’s Fruits of Culture. Direction: Meghnad Bhattacharya.

TALK

November 30 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 5.30 pm: Swami Tattwasarananda will speak on Naradiya Bhaktisutra. November 30 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 6 pm: Arup Ranjan Pradhan will speak on Devi Bhagavad. November 30 at Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, 211 Bidhan Sarani; 6 pm: Ashis Kumar Lahiri and Kamal Nandy will speak on Life and Works of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy. November 30 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Sarvabhutananda will speak in English on Mundaka Upanishad. November 30 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Parimalkanti Das will speak in Bengali on Sri Ramakrishna O Ramchandra Dutta.

BOOK exhibition

Till December 13 at Crossword, Elgin Road: Crossword-Penguin Fest (in association with t2). Attractive offers on Penguin Books for the entire period across five Crossword stores. Till December 15 at Starmark (Lord Sinha Road, South City Mall, Mani Square and City Centre); 11 am - 8 pm: Children’s book exhibition offers a wide range of titles.

PERFORMING ARTS

December 4 at St Paul’s Cathedral, 5.45 pm; December 5 at Tollygunge Club lawns, 6 pm; December 6 at RCTC Race Course grounds, 7 pm: Rising Stars, the music group from Dr Graham’s Homes, Kalimpong, will present concerts. Entry cards for the concert at RCTC are available at Birkmyre Hostel, 4 Middleton Row; the concert at St Paul’s Cathedral has free seating; the Tollygunge Club concert is open for members and their guests.

EXHIBITION

Till November 30 at Netaji Indoor Stadium; 11 am - 8 pm: EIJS 2009 (East India Jewellery Show), organised by Exposure with t2 as Print partner. Till November 30 at 218 AJC Bose Road; 10 am - 8 pm: Bombaim’s new line of creative designs: Mallika Mathur’s line of semi-formal and formal wear; funky products by Design Temple; Western wear by Cherie D’s & Him Her & The Apple; and jewellery@Bombaim. Till November 30 at 3/90 Chittaranjan Colony, Jadavpur; 10 am - 8 pm: The Indian Handicraft hosts Shiplo Kotha, an exhibition of brass handicraft. Till November 30 at The Halo Heritage, 26 Ritchie Road; 11.30 am - 8 pm: Soumya’s Creation presents durries and home accessories.

WORKSHOP

December 1 - 7 at Rajya Sangeet Academy Bhavan, 36 Prince Anwar Shah Road; 11 am -3 pm: Workshop on Uday Shankar style of dance, to be conducted by Shanti Bose. Organised by Rajya Sangeet Academy, department of information & cultural affairs, Goverment of West Bengal. For details, call 24179502. December 6 at Eduzone campus, 112 Southern Avenue; 11 am - 12.30 pm: Free interactive workshop with audio-visual presentation on tests SAT, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL & IELTS. One-hour diagnostic tests on these exams on request, with corrections and followup. E-mail confirmation at eduzoneindia@gmail.com For details, call 9830020277, 9230613528 or visit www.eduzoneindia.com.

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